Highly Efficient Gold Nano-Flower Optical Biosensor Doped in a Sol-Gel/PEG Matrix for the Determination of a Calcitonin Biomarker in Different Serum Samples

Walaa E Omer; Maged A El-Kemary; Mostafa M Elsaady; Mona N Abou-Omar; Ahmed O Youssef; Ali A Sayqal; Ayman A Gouda; Mohamed S Attia

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b02833

Highly Efficient Gold Nano-Flower Optical Biosensor Doped in a Sol-Gel/PEG Matrix for the Determination of a Calcitonin Biomarker in Different Serum Samples

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 12;5(11):5629-5637. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b02833. eCollection 2020 Mar 24.

Authors

Walaa E Omer¹, Maged A El-Kemary¹, Mostafa M Elsaady², Mona N Abou-Omar³, Ahmed O Youssef², Ali A Sayqal⁴, Ayman A Gouda⁵, Mohamed S Attia²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Kafrelsheikh University, 33516 Kafr El-Shaikh, Egypt.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, 11566 Cairo, Egypt.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University, 11566 Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, 24231 Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Faculty of Public Health and Health Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, 24231 Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

We developed a novel, simple, sensitive, accurate, and precise method for the determination of calcitonin in different serum samples with medullar thyroid carcinoma. The designed flower-like thin film gold nanoparticles doped in a sol-gel/polyethylene glycol mold are used as an optical biosensor for the efficient determination of calcitonin. The sensor was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The efficiency of the considered bio-sensor is done using the quencher calcitonin of the emission band at 360 nm of biomarker obtained at λ_ex = 333 nm in acetonitrile solvent. The sensing mechanism was based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The remarkable quenching of the fluorescence intensity at 360 nm of optical sensor by various concentrations of calcitonin was successfully used as an optical biosensor for the assessment of calcitonin for different serum samples of patients with medullar thyroid carcinoma. The calibration plot was prepared for the concentration range 0.01-1000 pg/mL of calcitonin with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 and a detection limit of 0.707 pg/mL. The suggested method augments the sensitivity of calcitonin as a useful biomarker for the early diagnosis of medullar thyroid carcinoma. This method is considered as a gateway for the construction of a new prototype for the follow-up of thyroid cancer in the spinal cord during and after treatment.