A nano-MOF-based electrochemical microfluidic immunosensor for dengue E protein detection in human serum

Dengue virus is a zoonotic infection transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito that is causing much public health concern in South America. Three structural proteins of the dengue virus can be used for virus quantification: the nucleocapsid C protein, the membrane precursor glycoprotein (prM), and the glycosylated envelope protein (E protein). In the present work, we present an electrochemical microfluidic immunosensor based on a nanosized Metal-Organic Framework (nano-MOF) (MIL-125-NH₂ (Ti)) as an innovative detection platform for E protein and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme immobilization. The analytical quantification parameters were thoroughly evaluated. In addition, this device was successfully used to determine the dengue E protein in real human serum samples. The calculated limit of detection was 0.8 pg mL^-1, and the intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were less than 6.10%. Moreover, the proposed method was compared with a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), demonstrating high sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility. This device demonstrates significant clinical potential for portable detection of dengue E protein in patient serum samples.