Highly Sensitive Detection of MicroRNA-21 with ICPMS via Hybridization Accumulation of Upconversion Nanoparticles

Abstract

A highly sensitive platform is developed for the determination of microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). It includes the following operations: Hairpin structures DNA H1 and H2 are designed, and DNA H1 is bound to ultrasmall lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) to produce UCNPs@DNA conjugate probes. Target miRNA triggers a chain reaction for alternating hybridization between DNA H1 (bound on UCNPs@DNA probe) and DNA H2. This leads to UCNPs accumulation and serves as an efficient amplification strategy for UCNPs. The concentration of miRNA-21 is closely correlated to the number of UCNPs; thus, the detection of 89Y by ICPMS provides a promising approach for miRNA quantification. This protocol exhibits high sensitivity to miRNA-21 within 0.1–500 fM, along with a detection limit of 41 aM, which is among the hitherto reported most sensitive procedures. It is worth mentioning that rare earth elements are scarcely present in living systems, which minimizes the background for ICPMS detection and excludes potential interferences from the coexisting species, which is most suited for biological assay.

Emerging microRNA biomarkers for colorectal cancer diagnosis and prognosis

“…This protocol was also performed using real blood samples and the average recovery of miR-141 increased from 96 to 108%, which is an acceptable accuracy and reproducibility. Two other published methods, an enzyme-free miRNA target-triggered strand displacement reaction (SDR) amplification strategy-based biosensor [135] and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)-based strategy [136], were used for detecting miR-21. In the SDR amplification strategy-based biosensor method, miR-21 was coupled with the redox signal of ferrocene and the detection limit was decreased to 0.34 fM with a good selectivity and reproductivity.…”

“…Target miRNA triggers a chain reaction for alternating hybridization between DNA H1 (bond on UCNPs@DNA probe) and DNA H2, leading to accumulation of ultra-small lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which is correlated with the concentration of miR-21. This method provided an alternative option for detecting miR-21 in serum with a detection limit of 41aM [136].…”

2D Dual Anisotropic Conductive Janus Nanostrips Array Pellicle and Derivative 3D Janus‐structural Pipe Concurrently Endowed with Magnetism and Red‐green Two‐colored Fluorescence

“…Rare earth (RE) luminescent materials have many applications in many fields due to their unique optical characteristics, good stability and easy preparation [24][25][26] , such as optoelectronic devices, anti-counterfeiting technology, optical windows and miRNA detection [27][28][29][30] Among them, Tb 3 + ions and Eu 3 + ions are the activators that produce efficient green and red emission light respectively, so RE complexes (RE=Tb, Eu) are often used as luminescent materials by researchers [31][32][33] . Cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CoFe 2 O NPs) are proverbially used as magnetic materials due to their strong magnetism and good biocompatibility.…”

Multiplex Nucleic Acid Assay of SARS-CoV-2 via a Lanthanide Nanoparticle-Tagging Strategy

“…Elemental mass spectrometry, especially inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS), 26 − 28 is emerging as a powerful platform for the multiplex bioassay 29 − 31 due to its high sensitivity, 32 wide dynamic range, 33 and multiplex sensing ability. 34 − 36 The multiplex bioassay by ICPMS 37 possesses many superiorities, such as a low sample consumption, 38 a short analysis time, a simplified procedure, and a low cost.…”