DNA impedance biosensor for detection of cancer, TP53 gene mutation, based on gold nanoparticles/aligned carbon nanotubes modified electrode

•Aligned MWCNT/Au nanoparticles electrode was fabricated to use as a new DNA biosensor.•EIS was proposed for DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation for the first time.•A low detection limit (1.0 × 10−17 M) was obtained without any amplification.•The biosensor exhibited high sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility(RSD = 2.1%).•This biosensor can be used for fast mutation screening related to human cancer types.

For the first time, a new platform based on electrochemical growth of Au nanoparticles on aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNT) was developed for sensitive lable-free DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation, one of the most popular genes in cancer research. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the sequence-specific DNA hybridization events related to TP53 gene. Compared to the bare Ta or MWCNT/Ta electrodes, the synergistic interactions of vertically aligned MWCNT array and gold nanoparticles at modified electrode could improve the density of the probe DNA attachment and resulting the sensitivity of the DNA sensor greatly. Using EIS, over the extended DNA concentration range, the change of charge transfer resistance was found to have a linear relationship in respect to the logarithm of the complementary oligonucleotides sequence concentrations in the wide range of 1.0 × 10−15 − 1.0 × 10−7 M, with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10−17 M (S/N = 3). The prepared sensor also showed good stability (14 days), reproducibility (RSD = 2.1%) and could be conveniently regenerated via dehybridization in hot water. The significant improvement in sensitivity illustrates that combining gold nanoparticles with the on-site fabricated aligned MWCNT array represents a promising platform for achieving sensitive biosensor for fast mutation screening related to most human cancer types.

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