Low-Cost Polyphenol-Polypyrrole Molecularly Imprinted Sensor for Point-of-Care Alzheimer's Detection

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis requires accessible and cost-effective biomarkers.
• Phosphorylated Tau 181 (p-tau181) is a critical biomarker for AD, but its detection in plasma is challenging.
• Current diagnostic methods for AD can be expensive and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a scalable, label-free electrochemical biosensor for detecting p-tau181 in biological samples.
• To create an affordable diagnostic platform for early Alzheimer's disease detection.
• To validate the sensor's performance in clinical samples and compare it with existing assays.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a printed circuit board-based electrochemical biosensor using a novel polyphenol red-polypyrrole composite transducer.
• Detection of p-tau181 in undiluted plasma, serum, and clinical AD samples.
• Utilized a custom potentiostat and machine learning for data analysis and classification.

Main Results:

• Achieved a low detection limit of 498 fg mL^-1 and high sensitivity (8.99 μA/pg mL).
• Demonstrated an Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.84 in clinical samples, comparable to SIMOA (AUC = 0.91).
• The developed biosensor offers a significantly lower cost compared to existing methods.

Conclusions:

• The novel electrochemical biosensor provides a sensitive and specific method for detecting p-tau181 in patient samples.
• This platform represents a significant advancement towards accessible, point-of-care diagnostics for early Alzheimer's disease detection.
• The technology shows promise for widespread clinical application due to its cost-effectiveness and scalability.