Viologen-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes as carrier nanotags for electrochemical immunosensing. Application to TGF-β1 cytokine

Viologen-SWCNT hybrids are synthesized by aryl-diazonium chemistry in the presence of isoamyl nitrite followed by condensation reaction of the resulting HOOC-PheSWCNT with 1-(3-aminoethyl)-4,4’-bipyridinium bromine and N-alkylation with 2- bromoethylamine. The V-Phe-SWCNT hybrids were characterized by using different spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, Raman, UV-vis), TGA and Kaiser test. ViologenSWCNTs were used for the preparation of an electrochemical immunosensor for the determination of the transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) cytokine considered as a reliable biomarker in several human diseases. The methodology involved preparation of VPhe-SWCNT(-HRP)-anti-TGF conjugates by covalent linkage of HRP and anti-TGF onto V-Phe-SWCNT hybrids. Biotinylated anti-TGF antibodies were immobilized onto 4- carboxyphenyl-functionalized SPCEs modified with streptavidin and a sandwich type 2 immunoassay was implemented for TGF-β1 with signal amplification using V-PheSWCNT(-HRP)-anti-TGF conjugates as carrier tags. The analytical characteristics exhibited by the as prepared immunosensor (range of linearity between 2.5 and 1000 pg mL-1 TGF-β1; detection limit of 0.95 pg mL-1 ) improve notably those reported with other previous immunosensors or ELISA kits. A great selectivity against other proteins was also found. The prepared immunosensor was validated by determining TGF-β1 in real saliva samples. Minimal sample treatment was required and the obtained results were in excellent agreement with those obtained by using a commercial ELISA kit.