A folding-based electrochemical aptasensor for detection of vascular endothelial growth factor in human whole blood

We herein report a folding-based electrochemical DNA aptasensor for the detection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) directly in complex biological samples, including blood serum and whole blood. The electrochemical signal generation is coupled to a large, target-induced conformational change in a methylene blue-modified and surface immobilized anti-VEGF aptamer. The sensor is sensitive, selective and essentially reagentless: we can readily detect VEGF down to 5 pM (190 pg/mL) directly in 50% blood serum. Similar to other aptasensors of this class, the VEGF sensor is also regenerable and reusable. In addition, the sensor performs comparably well even when fabricated on a gold-plated screen-printed carbon electrode and can potentially be implemented as a cost-effective, single-use biosensor for diseases diagnosis and therapy monitoring. The exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, and reusability of this electrochemical aptasensor platform suggest it may be a promising strategy for a wide variety of sensing applications.