4-Aminophenyl boronic acid modified gold platforms for influenza diagnosis

As a potential pandemic threat to human health, there has been an urgent need for rapid, sensitive, simpler and less expensive detection method for the highly pathogenic influenza A virus. For this purpose, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors have been developed for the recognition of hemagglutinin (HA) which is a major protein of influenza A virus. 4-Aminophenyl boronic acid (4-APBA) has been synthesized and used as a new ligand for binding of sialic acid (SA) via boronic acid–sugar interaction. SA has an important role in binding of HA. QCM and SPR sensor surfaces have been modified with thiol groups and then 4-APBA and SA have been immobilized on sensor surfaces, respectively. Sensor surfaces have been screened with AFM and used for the determination of HA from aqueous solution. The selective recognition of the QCM and SPR sensors toward Concanavalin A has been reported in this work. Also, the binding capacity and detection limits of QCM and SPR sensors have been calculated and detection limits were found to be 4.7 × 10− 2 μM, (0.26 μg ml− 1) and 1.28 × 10− 1 μM, (0.72 μg ml− 1) in the 95% confidence interval, respectively.

► Affinity based QCM and SPR sensors have been developed for the recognition of HA.
► QCM and SPR sensors which recognize HA were improved by using 4-APBA-SA.
► The preparation of 4-APBA is unique in literature.
► The detection limit of QCM sensors was found as 4.7 × 10− 2 μM, (0.26 μg ml− 1).
► The detection limit of SPR sensor was found as 1.28 × 10− 1 μM, (0.72 μg ml− 1).