An Approach to the Simultaneous Determination of a Panel of Five Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Brain Cancer Using the Stochastic Method

Abstract

The simultaneous determination of heregulin-α and HER 1–4 plays an important role in brain cancer diagnosis and treatment. To date, only enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a semiquantitative colorimetric method have been used for the assay of these biomarkers; these methods are quite expensive and can only determine one biomarker in a run. Four 3D stochastic microsensors based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes enriched with gold nanoparticles and modified with inulin were designed for the simultaneous determination of heregulin-α and HER 1–4 in tumor brain tissue and whole blood samples. For the simultaneous measurement of HRG-α and HER 1–4, all sensors demonstrated low limits of determination (as fg mL−1 magnitude order), high sensitivities, and wide concentration ranges. From biological samples, high recovery values of more than 96% of analytes were obtained. The proposed sensor can detect HER 1–4 and heregulin-α in whole blood and tumor tissue samples at the same time.

Keywords

• 3D stochastic microsensors
• multi-walled carbon nanotubes
• gold nanoparticles
• inulin
• HRG-α
• HER-1