Development of a highly specific amine-terminated aptamer functionalized surface plasmon resonance biosensor for blood protein detection

This paper presents a generally applicable approach for the highly specific detection of blood proteins. Thrombin and thrombin-binding aptamers are chosen for demonstration purposes. The sensor was prepared by immobilizing amine-terminated aptamers onto a gold modified surface using a two-step self-assembled monolayer (SAM) immobilization technique and the physical detection is performed using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). The developed sensor has an optimal detectable range of 5–1000 nM and the results show the sensor has good reversibility, sensitivity and selectivity. Furthermore, the sensor shows the potential of being improved and standardized for direct detection of other blood proteins for clinical applications.