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Conductometric Biosensor for Quick Detection of Urinary Biomarkers in Chronic Kidney Disease Management
Sreekanth S P1, Ganganath S Perera1, Shanmuga Sundar Dhanabalan1,2
1Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group and the Micro Nano Research Facility, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia.
Insights
New conductometric biosensors offer rapid and sensitive detection of key chronic kidney disease (CKD) biomarkers in urine. These high-resistivity-silicon based devices provide a low-cost, portable solution for improved CKD management and therapy.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Clinical Chemistry
- Materials Science
Background:
- Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant global health issue with complex pathophysiology.
- Effective CKD management relies on monitoring specific urine biomarkers like β-2 Microglobulin (β2MG), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and CD163.
- Existing detection methods for these biomarkers have limitations including complexity, long detection times, and poor sensitivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate novel high-resistivity-silicon (HR-Si) based conductometric biosensors.
- To enable rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective detection of β2MG, EGF, and CD163 in urine samples.
- To overcome the limitations of current biomarker detection techniques for CKD management.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of HR-Si based conductometric biosensors.
- Detection of β2MG, EGF, and CD163 in human urine samples.
- Performance evaluation including sensitivity, selectivity, and detection time.
Main Results:
- The conductometric biosensors achieved low detection limits for β2MG (100 fM), EGF (5 pM), and CD163 (10 fM).
- Demonstrated rapid detection times (<2 min) and short sample incubation (<15 min).
- Highlighted advantages such as simple, low-cost fabrication, high selectivity, and potential for miniaturization.
Conclusions:
- HR-Si based conductometric biosensors represent a promising point-of-need tool for CKD biomarker detection.
- These biosensors offer a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective alternative to existing methods.
- The technology has the potential to significantly aid in the management and therapy of chronic kidney disease.
Abstract:
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a noncommunicable disease that brings long-term morbidity among people and is identified as a hidden epidemic. As the disease-causing pathophysiology process is different and complex for various diseases of CKD, specific biomarkers in urine should be monitored in aiding therapy and management of CKD. β-2 Microglobulin (β2MG), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and CD163 are three of such common biomarkers used in CKD management. Though different detection methods such as electrochemical sensors, electrochemiluminescence, and sandwich ELISA have been reported for these three biomarkers, they are associated with shortcomings such as complex device fabrication, longer detection time, and poor sensitivity. To overcome these disadvantages, the current study introduces high-resistivity-silicon (HR-Si)-based conductometric biosensors for rapid and sensitive detection of these three biomarkers. These conductometric biosensors successfully detected β2MG, EGF, and CD163 in urine with detection limits of 100 fM, 5 pM, and 10 fM, respectively. Other advantages of conductometric biosensors include relatively simple sensor fabrication, which is also low-cost, short sample incubation time (<15 min), fast detection time (<2 min), high selectivity, and the capability of miniaturization and compatibility with common electronics circuitry (ability to use as a portable device). These key features of the conductometric biosensors hold as a futuristic point-of-need tool in aiding CKD management and therapy.
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