Gravimetric Viral Diagnostics: QCM Based Biosensors for Early Detection of Viruses

Abstract

Viruses are pathogenic microorganisms that can inhabit and replicate in human bodies causing a number of widespread infectious diseases such as influenza, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, meningitis, pneumonia, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) etc. A majority of these viral diseases are contagious and can spread from infected to healthy human beings. The most important step in the treatment of these contagious diseases and to prevent their unwanted spread is to timely detect the disease-causing viruses. Gravimetric viral diagnostics based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) transducers and natural or synthetic receptors are miniaturized sensing platforms that can selectively recognize and quantify harmful virus species. Herein, a review of the label-free QCM virus sensors for clinical diagnostics and point of care (POC) applications is presented with major emphasis on the nature and performance of different receptors ranging from the natural or synthetic antibodies to selective macromolecular materials such as DNA and aptamers. A performance comparison of different receptors is provided and their limitations are discussed.

Advances in Analysis of Milk Proteases Activity at Surfaces and in a Volume by Acoustic Methods

“…New trends consist in the application of DNA aptamers immobilized at the surface of TSM transducers for cancer diagnosis by the detection of cancer cells [ 50 ]. QCM sensors are suitable also for the detection of viruses [ 51 ].…”

Critical assessment of relevant methods in the field of biosensors with direct optical detection based on fibers and waveguides using plasmonic, resonance, and interference effects

“…Interfacial properties of solid-liquid interface have to be considered [79]. Nevertheless, QCMs are used for biosensing [80,81] and even cell behavior is examined [82]. Picomolar specific biomarker target detection was achieved for miss-matches of non-coding RNA [83] or using micro-cantilever arrays for early liver cancer diagnosis [84].…”

Application of QCM in Peptide and Protein-Based Drug Product Development

“…The QCM has been successfully utilized for diagnosis of diseases such as cancer [ 21 , 37 , 38 , 39 ] as well as viral [ 40 ] and bacterial [ 41 ] infections. Moreover, the QCM technique, especially QCM-D, is widely used in cellular characterization [ 42 ] and interactions [ 43 , 44 , 45 ], DNA detection [ 40 , 46 ], and protein detection [ 47 ], as well as high-throughput real-time screening of protein drug targets [ 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Overall, the QCM technology attracts a lot of attention due to the wide variety of possible applications [ 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 ].…”