Disposable electrochemical immunoplatform to shed light on the role of the multifunctional glycoprotein TIM-1 in cancer cells invasion

Abstract

Detecting overexpression of cancer biomarkers is an excellent tool for diagnostic/prognostic and follow-up of patients with cancer or their response to treatment. This work illustrates the relevance of interrogating the levels of T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 1 (TIM-1) protein as a diagnostic/prognostic biomarker of high-prevalence breast and lung cancers by using an amperometric disposable magnetic microparticles-assisted immunoplatform. The developed method integrates the inherent advantages of carboxylic acid-functionalized magnetic beads (HOOC-MBs) as pre-concentrator support and the amperometric transduction at screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). The immunoplatform involves a sandwich-type immunoassay assembled on HOOC-MBs through the specific capture/labeling of TIM-1 using capture antibodies and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated biotinylated detection antibodies as biorecognition elements. The magnetic immunoconjugates were confined onto the working electrode (WE) surface of the SPCEs for amperometric detection using the hydroquinone/hydrogen peroxide/HRP (HQ/H2O2/HRP) redox system. The method allows the selective detection of TIM-1 protein over the 87–7500 pg mL−1 concentration range in only 45 min, with a limit of detection of 26 pg mL−1. The developed bioplatform was successfully applied to the analysis of breast and lung cancer cell extracts, providing the first quantitative results of the target glycoprotein in these types of samples.