Graphene based aptasensor for glycated albumin in diabetes mellitus diagnosis and monitoring

•Aptamers bound GHSA, which is a marker for diabetes mellitus, were selected.•A simple and sensitive GHSA aptasensor platform was developed.•High GHSA concentrations from diabetic serums were observed.

We selected and modified DNA aptamers specifically bound glycated human serum albumin (GHSA), which is an intermediate marker for diabetes mellitus. Our aptamer truncation study indicated that the hairpin-loop structure with 23 nucleotides length containing triple G-C hairpins and 15-nucleotide loop, plays an important role in GHSA binding. Fluorescent quenching graphene oxide (GO) and Cy5-labeled G8 aptamer were used in this study to develop simple and sensitive graphene based aptasensor for GHSA detection. The limit of detection (LOD) of our aptasensor was 50 μg/mL, which was lower than other existing methods. In addition, with the nuclease resistance system, our GHSA detection platform could also be used in clinical samples. Importantly, our approach could significantly reveal the higher levels of GHSA concentrations in diabetes than normal serums. These indicate that our aptasensor has a potential for diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus.