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Disposable electrochemical platform based on solid-binding peptides and carbon nanomaterials: an alternative device for leishmaniasis detection

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Abstract

Neglected tropical diseases are those caused by infectious agents or parasites and are considered endemic in low-income populations. These diseases also have unacceptable indicators and low investment in research, drug production, and control. Tropical diseases such as leishmaniasis are some of the main causes of morbidity and mortality around the globe. Electrochemical immunosensors are promising tools for diagnostics against these diseases. One such benefit is the possibility of assisting diagnosis in isolated regions, where laboratory infrastructure is lacking. In this work, different peptides were investigated to detect antibodies against Leishmania in human and canine serum samples. The peptides evaluated (395-KKG and 395-G) have the same recognition site but differ on their solid-binding domains, which ensure affinity to spontaneously bind to either graphene oxide (GO) or graphene quantum dots (GQD). Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were employed to investigate the electrochemical behavior of each assembly step and the role of each solid-binding domain coupled to its anchoring material. The graphene affinity peptide (395-G) showed better reproducibility and selectivity when coupled to GQD. Under the optimized set of experimental conditions, negative and positive human serum samples responses were distinguished based on a cut-off value of 82.5% at a 95% confidence level. The immunosensor showed selective behavior to antibodies against Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which are similar antibodies and potentially sources of false positive tests. Therefore, the use of the graphene affinity peptide as a recognition site achieved outstanding performance for the detection of Leishmania antibodies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (financial code 001 and CAPES 09/2020 Epidemias 88887.504861/2020-00 and 88881.505280/2020-01), Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq) (grants 311290/2020-5 and 309803/2020-9), and Fundação Araucária (PBA2022011000056 and PDT2020221000003). The authors also acknowledge financial support from the Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology (INCT)—Nanomaterials for Life (Proc. Number 406079/2022-6).

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Author notes

  1. Beatriz A. Braz and Manuel Hospinal-Santiani contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Electrochemical Sensors (LabSensE), Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), CEP, CP 19032, Curitiba, PR, 81531-980, Brazil

    Beatriz A. Braz, Gustavo Martins, Márcio F. Bergamini & Luiz H. Marcolino-Junior

  2. Molecular Biology Laboratory, Graduate Program in Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), CEP, Curitiba, PR, 81531-980, Brazil

    Beatriz A. Braz, Manuel Hospinal-Santiani, Carlos R. Soccol & Vanete Thomaz-Soccol

  3. Graduate Program in Microbiology, Parasitology, and Pathology, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), CEP, Curitiba, PR, 81531-980, Brazil

    Breno C. B. Beirão

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  1. Beatriz A. Braz
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Braz, B.A., Hospinal-Santiani, M., Martins, G. et al. Disposable electrochemical platform based on solid-binding peptides and carbon nanomaterials: an alternative device for leishmaniasis detection. Microchim Acta 190, 321 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05891-z

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