Non-fluidic array SPR imaging (SPRi) with appropriate biosensors is a new tool for the determination of various biomarkers in body fluids. Numerous biomarkers can be determined without signal enhancement or preliminarily preconcentration. The introduction of a new material solution of the chip may increase the scope of the application of this technique. Solutions with adhesive separating foil and an Ag/Au chip were compared with the previously used two-paint separating polymer and pure gold chip. These solutions were tested using the example of a biosensor for cathepsin D (Cath D), which consisted of pepstatin A (a Cath D inhibitor) immobilized via a cysteamine linker using the NHS/EDC protocol. Four material versions of the Cath D biosensor proved adequate in terms of range of linearity, LOQ, precision and recovery. All four versions of the biosensor were used for the determination of Cath D in the blood serum patients with glioblastoma and control samples, producing very similar results and showing an elevated biomarker concentration in the case of cancer. Therefore, the problem of determining the correct level of Cath D in the serum of healthy individuals has been resolved, correcting literature data which ranged over three orders of magnitude.
Keywords: Ag/Au chip; adhesive separating foil; array SPRi; blood serum; cathepsin D; glioblastoma.