Pandemic Influenza Detection by Electrically Active Magnetic Nanoparticles and Surface Plasmon Resonance

Tracy L Kamikawa; Malgorzata G Mikolajczyk; Michael Kennedy; Lilin Zhong; Pei Zhang; Emma B Setterington; Dorothy E Scott; Evangelyn C Alocilja

doi:10.1109/TNANO.2011.2157936

Pandemic Influenza Detection by Electrically Active Magnetic Nanoparticles and Surface Plasmon Resonance

IEEE Trans Nanotechnol. 2011 May 27;11(1):88-96. doi: 10.1109/TNANO.2011.2157936. eCollection 2012 Jan.

Authors

Tracy L Kamikawa¹, Malgorzata G Mikolajczyk¹, Michael Kennedy¹, Lilin Zhong¹, Pei Zhang¹, Emma B Setterington², Dorothy E Scott¹, Evangelyn C Alocilja²

Affiliations

¹ 1 U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationCenter for Biologics Evaluation and Research Bethesda MD 20892 USA.
² 2 Department of Biosystems and Agricultural EngineeringMichigan State University East Lansing MI 48824 USA.

Abstract

Influenza A virus (FLUAV), the causative agent of influenza infection, has received extensive attention due to the recent swine-origin H1N1 pandemic. FLUAV has long been the cause of annual epidemics as well as less frequent but more severe global pandemics. Here, we describe a biosensor utilizing electrically active magnetic (EAM) polyaniline-coated nanoparticles as the transducer in an electrochemical biosensor for rapidly identifying FLUAV strains based on receptor specificity, which will be useful to monitor animal influenza infections and to characterize pandemic potential of strains that have transmitted from animals to humans. Pandemic potential requires human-to-human transmissibility, which is dependent upon FLUAV hemagglutinin (HA) specificity for host glycan receptors. Avian FLUAV preferentially bind to α2,3-linked receptors, while human FLUAV bind to α2,6-linked receptors. EAM nanoparticles were prepared by synthesizing aniline monomer around gamma iron (III) oxide (γ-Fe₂O₃) cores, yielding 25-100-nm diameter nanoparticles that were structurally characterized by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. The EAM nanoparticles were coated with monoclonal antibodies specific to H5N1 (A/Vietnam/1203/04). Specificity of binding between glycans and H5 was demonstrated. The biosensor results were correlative to supporting data from a surface plasmon resonance assay that characterized HA/glycan binding and α-H5 antibody activity. This novel study applies EAM nanoparticles as the transducer in a specific, portable, easy-to-use biosensor with great potential for disease monitoring and biosecurity applications.

Keywords: Biosensor; direct-charge transfer; electrically active; immunomagnetic; influenza.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Critical Path Funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “The findings and conclusions in this publication have not been formally disseminated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be construed to represent any Agency determination or policy.”