Nanoribbon-Based Electronic Detection of a Glioma-Associated Circular miRNA

Abstract

Nanoribbon chips, based on “silicon-on-insulator” structures (SOI-NR chips), have been fabricated. These SOI-NR chips, whose surface was sensitized with covalently immobilized oligonucleotide molecular probes (oDNA probes), have been employed for the nanoribbon biosensor-based detection of a circular ribonucleic acid (circRNA) molecular marker of glioma in humans. The nucleotide sequence of the oDNA probes was complimentary to the sequence of the target oDNA. The latter represents a synthetic analogue of a glioma marker—NFIX circular RNA. In this way, the detection of target oDNA molecules in a pure buffer has been performed. The lowest concentration of the target biomolecules, detectable in our experiments, was of the order of ~10−17 M. The SOI-NR sensor chips proposed herein have allowed us to reveal an elevated level of the NFIX circular RNA in the blood of a glioma patient.

Keywords

• nanoribbon
• biosensor
• silicon-on-insulator
• glioma
• early diagnosis
• circular RNA