Background
Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most devastating manifestation of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. About 33% of TBM patients die due to very late diagnosis of the disease. Conventional diagnostic
Conclusion
In summary, we demonstrate a new aptamer-based electrochemical biosensing strategy by exploiting the target-induced structural switching of H63 SL-2 M6 aptamer and electroactivity of aptamer-tagged MB for the detection of HspX in CSF samples for the diagnosis of TBM. Further, the clinical utility of this sensor could be extended for the diagnosis of other forms of tuberculosis in the near future.
Methods
In the current study, to address the diagnostic challenge of TBM, a highly rapid and sensitive structural switching electrochemical aptasensor was developed by combining the electrochemical property of methylene blue (MB) with the molecular recognition ability of a ssDNA aptamer. To demonstrate the clinical diagnostic utility of the developed aptasensor, a blinded study was performed on 81 archived CSF specimens using differential pulse voltammetry.
Results
The electrochemical aptasensor developed in the current study can detect as low as 10 pg HspX in CSF background and yields a highly discriminatory response (P<0.0001) for TBM and not-TBM categories with ~95% sensitivity and ~97.5% specificity and has the ability to deliver sample-to-answer in ≤30 minutes.