A label-free aptamer-based cytosensor for specific cervical cancer HeLa cell recognition through a g-C3N4–AgI/ITO photoelectrode

Facile and efficient detection of cancer cells in the early phases of the disease is one of the main challenges in cancer diagnostics. It has been found that photoactive materials and bio-recognition elements are two key factors in the development of promising photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensors for cancer cell detection, which can play significant roles for realizing early cancer diagnostics with high sensitivity and selectivity. In this study, we designed a novel label-free PEC aptamer-based cytosensor for the specific detection of cancer cells such as HeLa cells by using water-dispersible g-C3N4–AgI nanocomposites as visible light-sensitive materials and anti-CEM/PTK7 aptamer as the bio-recognition element. It was observed that when a suitable amount of AgI nanoparticles was doped in two-dimensional graphite-like carbon nitride nano-sheets (g-C3N4 NSs), the visible light photocurrent response could be significantly improved. The PEC response of the as-prepared biosensor based on the g-C3N4–AgI/ITO photoelectrode was linearly proportional to the relevant cancer cells such as HeLa cells at concentrations ranging from 10 to 106 cells per mL with a limit of detection of 5 cells per mL. In addition, the g-C3N4–AgI/ITO photoelectrode and the fabricated cytosensor exhibited long-term stability, good reproducibility, excellent selectivity, and high sensitivity, demonstrating the successful conjugation of g-C3N4–AgI NSs with the aptamer and target cancer cells in the high performance PEC cytosensor.