A point-of-care electrochemical biosensor for the rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers in murine models with LPS-induced sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition, which is irreversible if diagnosis and intervention are delayed. The response of the immune cells towards an infection triggers widespread inflammation through the production of cytokines, which may result in multiple organ dysfunction and eventual death. Conventional detection techniques fail to provide a rapid diagnosis because of their limited sensitivity and tedious protocol. This study proposes a point-of-care (POC) electrochemical biosensor that overcomes the limitations of current biosensing technologies in the clinical setting by its integration with electrokinetics, enhancing the sensitivity to picogram level compared with the nanogram limit of current diagnostic technologies. This biosensor promotes the use of a microelectrode strip to address the limitations of conventional photolithographic fabrication methods. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and microRNA-155 (miR-155) were monitored in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced septic mouse model. The optimum target hybridization time in a high conductivity medium was observed to be 60 s leading to the completion of the whole operation within 5 min compared with the 4-h detection time of the traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.84, 0.18, and 0.0014 pg mL−1, respectively. This novel sensor may have potential for the early diagnosis of sepsis in the clinical setting.