Carbohydrate derivative-functionalized biosensing toward highly sensitive electrochemical detection of cell surface glycan expression as cancer biomarker

Accurate and highly sensitive detection of glycan expression on cell surface is extremely important for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Herein, a carbohydrate derivative-functionalized biosensor was developed for electrochemical detection of the expression level of cell surface glycan (mannose used as model). Thiomannosyl dimer was synthesized to design the thiomannosyl-functionalized biosensor by direct and rapid one-step protocols. The biosensing surface-confined mannose could effectively mimic the presentation of cell surface mannose and was responsible for competing with mannose on cancer cells in incubation solution. Greatly enhanced sensitivity was achieved by exploiting the excellent conductivity of multiwalled carbon nanotube/Au nanoparticle (MWNT/AuNP), the amplification effect of MWNTs, and the favorable catalytic ability of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Using competitive strategy, the developed biosensor exhibits attractive performances for the analysis of mannose expression with rapid response, high sensitivity and accuracy, and possesses great promise for evaluation of cell surface glycan expression by using a greater variety of lectins.