A novel plasmonic optical-fiber-based point-of-care test for periodontal MIP-1α detection

Marco Annunziata; Francesco Arcadio; Adriana Borriello; Debora Bencivenga; Angelantonio Piccirillo; Emanuela Stampone; Luigi Zeni; Nunzio Cennamo; Fulvio Della Ragione; Luigi Guida

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108539

A novel plasmonic optical-fiber-based point-of-care test for periodontal MIP-1α detection

iScience. 2023 Nov 23;26(12):108539. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108539. eCollection 2023 Dec 15.

Affiliations

¹ Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialties, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via L. De Crecchio, 6, 80138 Naples, Italy.
² Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy.
³ Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy.

Abstract

The analysis of salivary biomarkers as expression of periodontal health conditions has been proposed as a useful aid to conventional diagnostic approaches. In this study, we present a point-of-care test (POCT) exploiting a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based optical biosensor to detect salivary macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α, a promising marker of periodontitis. A plastic optical fiber (POF) was suitably modified and functionalized by an antibody self-assembled monolayer against MIP-1α for plasmonic detection. The proposed SPR-POF biosensor showed high selectivity and very low limit of detection for MIP-1α of 129 fM (1.0 pg/mL) in phosphate-buffered saline and 346 fM (2.7 pg/mL) in saliva. As a proof of concept, this POCT was also able to discriminate between a periodontitis patient and a healthy subject. The obtained results support the future application of this technology for an on-site detection and real-time monitoring of periodontal health conditions for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Keywords: Fiber optics; Optics; Physics.