Fabrication of Nanostructured Receptors-based Device for the Detection of Dengue Fever

Abstract

Dengue belongs to a family of Flaviviridae virus and is a single-stranded, positive, enveloped RNA virus having four serotypes: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4. DENV infection generates ten viral protein products that have nonstructural components (NS1, NS5, NS2A, NS4A, NS2B, NS4B and NS3) and structural components (envelope, capsid and pre-membrane). NS1 is an efficiently used biological marker for the diagnostic purpose of the early stages of dengue. This is because of its presence in all the serotypes of the dengue and its secretion before the production of antibodies against the virus. NS1 dengue viral protein is secreted and accumulated in extracellular space as a hexametric lipoprotein specie. Development of various methods has been reported against dengue’s nonstructural protein 1(NS1) such as detection of viral RNA through a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, serological test, viral culture, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, etc. However, these conventional techniques lead to unacceptable time delays, cost, sensitivity, selectivity, and energy. To eliminate these pitfalls, researchers are intending to develop a proficient biosensor for diagnosing NS1 that possess high specificity, sensitivity, and simplicity. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a simple, sensitive, and selective diagnostic technique for the detection of dengue. Molecular imprinting sensors have been developed due to their good sensitivity and specific molecular recognition ability. This facile, robust, and nonbiological approach has been used to detect large molecules such as protein. The main drawback of using proteins as templates is their complex and flexible three-dimensional structure which unfolds easily with minimal changes in the environment. In addition, it is difficult to elute template molecules embedded in molecularly imprinted polymers. Therefore, stable and rigid 3D proteins are strongly preferred for imprinting purposes. The most promising strategy to overcome the complications is to decrease the complexity of the template to achieve successful protein imprinting. Hence, an elegant approach for a new, inexpensive protein imprinting method has been reported in recent years under the x name of epitope imprinting. This imprinting technique involves the use of a small fragment of target protein (epitope) as a template resulting in the formation of MIP layer which will be able to identify the whole protein molecule.