Quantitative Detection of Cathepsin B Activity in Neutral pH Buffers Using Gold Microelectrode Arrays: Toward Direct Multiplex Analyses of Extracellular Proteases in Human Serum.

Proteases are critical signaling molecules and prognostic biomarkers for many diseases including cancer. There is a strong demand for multiplex bioanalytical techniques that can rapidly detect the activity of extracellular proteases with high sensitivity and specificity. This study demonstrates an activity-based electrochemical biosensor of a 3 × 3 gold microelectrode array for the detection of cathepsin B activity in human serum diluted in a neutral buffer.

Simultaneous, multiplex quantification of protease activities using a gold microelectrode array.

Proteases are a large family of enzymes involved in many important biological processes. Quantitative detection of the activity profile of specific target proteases is in high demand for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as cancers. This study demonstrates the fabrication and characterization of an individually addressable 3 × 3 Au microelectrode array for rapid, multiplex detection of cathepsin B activity based on a simple electrochemical method.

Electrochemical Activity Assay for Protease Analysis Using Carbon Nanofiber Nanoelectrode Arrays.

There is a strong demand for bioanalytical techniques to rapidly detect protease activities with high sensitivity and high specificity. This study reports an activity-based electrochemical method toward this goal. Nanoelectrode arrays (NEAs) fabricated with embedded vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) are functionalized with specific peptide substrates containing a ferrocene (Fc) tag.