Aptamer-based rolling circle amplification: a platform for electrochemical detection of protein

Aptamer-based rolling circle amplification (aptamer-RCA) was developed as a novel versatile electrochemical platform for ultrasensitive detection of protein. This method utilized antibodies immobilized on the electrode surface to capture the protein target, and the surface-captured protein was then sandwiched by an aptamer-primer complex. The aptamer-primer sequence mediated an in situ RCA reaction that generated hundreds of copies of a circular DNA template. Detection of the amplified copies via enzymatic silver deposition then allowed enormous sensitivity enhancement in the assay of target protein. This novel aptamer-primer design circumvented time-consuming preparation of the antibody-DNA conjugate for the common immuno-RCA assay. Moreover, the detection strategy based on enzymatic silver deposition enabled a highly efficient readout of the RCA product as compared to a redox-labeled probe based procedure that might exhibit low detection efficiency due to RCA product distance from the electrode. With the platelet-derived growth factor B-chain (PDGF-BB) as a model target, it was demonstrated that the presented method was highly sensitive and specific with a wide detection range of 4 orders of magnitude and a detection limit as low as 10 fM. Because of the wide availability of aptamers for numerous proteins, this platform holds great promise in ultrasensitive immunoassay.