An integrated chip for rapid, sensitive, and multiplexed detection of cardiac biomarkers from fingerprick blood

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Cardiovascular Diagnostics

Background:

• Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of adult mortality globally.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) lacks sensitivity for early detection.
• Current cardiac biomarker assays (e.g., ELISA) are time-consuming, require large samples, and are not suitable for rapid point-of-care testing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated chip for rapid, sensitive, and simultaneous analysis of multiple cardiac biomarkers.
• To overcome the limitations of existing diagnostic methods for acute cardiac events.
• To enable point-of-care testing using minimal blood volume.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an integrated chip combining a plasma filtration unit and a silicon nanowire (SiNW) array sensor.
• Simultaneous detection of troponin T (cTnT), creatine kinase MM (CK-MM), and creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) using antibody-spotted SiNWs.
• Utilized fingerprick blood (2 μl) for analysis, minimizing sample volume and processing time.

Main Results:

• The integrated chip successfully performed plasma separation and simultaneous detection of three cardiac biomarkers.
• Achieved a low detection limit of 1 pg/ml for cTnT, CK-MM, and CK-MB.
• Completed the analysis within 45 minutes from a small blood sample.

Conclusions:

• The developed integrated chip offers a rapid, sensitive, and simultaneous method for cardiac biomarker detection.
• This technology has the potential to significantly improve the diagnosis and management of heart attack patients.
• The chip design minimizes sample volume and processing time, making it suitable for point-of-care applications.