Human papilloma virus DNA-biomarker analysis for cervical cancer: Signal enhancement by gold nanoparticle-coupled tetravalent streptavidin-biotin strategy

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a double-standard DNA virus, as well as the source of infection to the mucous membrane. It is a sexually transmitted disease that brings the changes in the cervix cells. Oncogenes, E6 and E7 play a pivotal role in the HPV infection. Identifying these genes to detect HPV strains, especially a prevalent HPV16 strain, will bring a great impact. Among different sensing strategies for pathogens, the dielectric electrochemical biosensor shows the potential due to its higher sensitivity. In this research, HPV16-E7 DNA sequence was detected on the carbodiimidazole-modified interdigitated electrode (IDE) surface with the detection limit of 1 fM. To enhance the sensitivity, the target sequence was conjugated on gold nanoparticle (GNP) and attained detection to the level of 10 aM. This produced ~100 folds improvement in detecting HPV16-E7 gene and 4 folds increment in the current flow. The stability of HPV16-E7 DNA sequences on GNP was verified by the salt-induced GNP aggregation. The current system has shown the higher specificity by comparing against non-complementary and triple-mismatched DNA sequences of HPV16-E7. This demonstration in detecting HPV16-E7 using dielectric IDE sensing system with a higher sensitivity can be recommended for detecting a wide range of disease-causing DNA-markers.