Multiplexed Detection Strategy for Bladder Cancer MicroRNAs Based on Photonic Crystal Barcodes

Bladder cancer is a complex and highly prevalent disease associated with substantial morbidity and mortality rates. Detection and surveillance of biomarkers for bladder cancer are particularly critical in clinical diagnosis and prognostic monitoring. The current detection methods are limited to low sensitivity, low throughput, and high operational cost. In this paper, we present a multiplexed detection strategy for microRNA (miRNA) related to bladder cancer by utilizing photonic crystal (PhC) barcodes. PhC barcodes have characteristic reflective peaks generated by periodic orderly porous nanostructures, providing an ideal choice for encoding element. Besides, owing to the larger surface area provided by the structure, PhC barcodes is an effective platform for probes ligation and miRNAs detection. Compared with the planar microarrays, PhC barcodes avoid the problem of steric hindrance, making it express more efficient reaction and higher detection sensitivity. By introducing hybridization chain reaction (HCR), the detection efficiency of this strategy is greatly improved, making the rapid, accurate, high sensitivity quantification of miRNAs possible. The results indicated that the multiplexed detection strategy based on PhC barcodes can be applied to the clinical analysis of tumor markers.