title: Digital detection of biomarkers assisted by nanoparticles: application to diagnostics.
abstract: Single-molecule detection and counting is the new frontier in biomarker analysis. Here, we report on recent techniques for the digital detection of biomolecules for clinical application. First we highlight methods based on the immunocapture of proteins onto microparticles, followed by isolation of individual particles in microenvironments so that a sufficient signal is acquired for each binding event to make a binary decision, thus dramatically enhancing the signal:noise ratio. Various approaches are categorized based on the method used for particle confinement in an isolated microenvironment. We go on to describe methods for the detection of individual biological nanoparticles as well as the digital detection of proteins by artificial nanoparticle labels. The discussion of the methods emphasizes the practical considerations and their clinical applicability.
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Molecolare (ICRM), Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cretich
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: George G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Daaboul
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Molecolare (ICRM), Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sola
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: M Selim
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ünlü
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Molecolare (ICRM), Milano, Italy. Electronic address: marcella.chiari@icrm.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiari
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D057089:Pathology, Molecular / Q000379:methods*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011506:Proteins
keywords: biomarkers; diagnostics; digital detection; nanoparticle; single-molecule; virus