Sensitive Method for Biomolecule Detection Utilizing Signal Amplification with Porphyrin Nanoparticles

Disease diagnosis requires identification of biomarkers that occur in small quantities, making detection a difficult task. Effective diagnosis is an even greater challenge in low-resource areas of the world. Methods must be simple, stable, and sensitive so that tests can be easily administered and withstand uncontrolled environmental conditions. One approach to this issue is development of stable signal amplification strategies. In this work, we applied the nanocrystal-based signal amplification method to tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin nanoparticles (TCPP NPs). The dissolution of the nanoparticle into thousands of porphyrin molecules results in amplified detection of the biomarker. By using nanoparticles as the signal-generating moiety, stability of the detection method is increased relative to commonly used enzyme-based assays. Additionally, the inherent fluorescent signal of TCPP molecules can be measured after nanoparticle dissolution. The ability to directly read the TCPP fluorescent signal increases assay simplicity by reducing the steps required for the test. This detection method was optimized by detecting rabbit IgG and then was applied to the detection of the malarial biomarker Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein II (pfHRPII) from a complex matrix. The results for both biomarkers were assays with low picomolar limits of detection.