Patent Description:
Exosomes are nano-sized cystic vesicles secreted by cells, which play an important role in cell-cell communication. In normal physiological and pathological conditions, almost all cells can secrete exosomes, but the number of exosomes secreted by cancerous cells is usually several orders of magnitude higher than that secreted by normal cells.

The size of exosomes ranges from about <NUM> to <NUM>. They comprise a variety of membrane proteins on the surface and nucleic acids, active enzymes and cytoplasmic substrates therein. Exosomes also comprise many proteins, and these proteins reflect the phenotype and physiological state of the cells, and are highly heterogeneous. The above-mentioned characteristics of exosomes can inform the relevant physiological states and pathological processes of many diseases, especially cancers. Therefore, the sensitive recognition of exosomes secreted by cells is of great significance for the biological research and clinical disease diagnosis.

Viruses are tiny life forms that can utilize nutrients in host cells and replicate their own life components such as nucleic acids and proteins. Viruses cause damage to human cells and tissues. For example, influenza viruses, HIV, and hepatitis viruses are common viruses. Most viruses are highly infectious. Effective and timely detection of the viruses and isolation of the source of infection to cut off the routes of infection are of great practical significance for arresting the spread of viruses and for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Due to the small size of biological nanoparticles, for example, the size of viruses ranges from <NUM> to <NUM>, and the size of exosomes ranges from about <NUM> to <NUM>, they cannot be detected under ordinary optical microscopes. Fluorescence staining or flow cytometry is usually used to analyze and detect biological nanoparticles. However, the complicated fluorescence staining process and the weak light scattering of biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses limit the use of these two methods in the detection of biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses. Accordingly, in view of the above-mentioned technical problems, for nano-sized exosomes, viruses and other biological nanoparticles, visual analysis under a transmission electron microscope and nanoparticle tracking analysis are employed in the prior art. However, the transmission electron microscope and nanoparticle tracking analysis instrument are expensive, and the cost is about <NUM> RMB for each test of a biological sample such as exosomes and viruses. Moreover, before the biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses are detected under a transmission electron microscope, they need to be stained; and the nanoparticle tracking analysis method requires a complicated separation and purification process. <NPL>) discloses a method for detecting exosomes comprising reacting copper nanoparticles with an aptamer, and after binding of said aptamer to the exosome, fluorescence was achieved through the acidolysis of transforming CuO NP into copper (II) ions (Cu2+) and the reduction of Cu2+ into fluorescent CuNPs by sodium ascorbate in the presence of poly(thymine). <NPL>) makes a similar disclosure for detecting exosomes. <NPL>) similarly discloses a method for detecting exosomes wherein exosomes are first captured by cholesterol-modified magnetic beads, then the bead-binding exosomes and CD63 aptamer-modified copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) can form sandwich complexes through the special recognition of CD63 aptamer, and after magnetic separation, the acidolysis transforms CuO NP into Cu2+, which can be further reduced to fluorescent copper nanoparticles (CuNPs).

To overcome the technical defects in the prior art of complicated pretreatment process before the detection of biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses, expensive detection equipment and detection cost, as well as inability to distinguish interfering particles, an object of the present disclosure provides a simple, convenient and rapid biological nanoparticle detection method with high-sensitivity such as an exosome and a virus by specifically binding a labeling protein to the biological nanoparticle, to achieve the rapid and high-sensitivity detection of the biological nanoparticle such as an exosome and a virus.

To achieve the above objective, a biological nanoparticle detection method with high-sensitivity is provided in the present disclosure, which includes the following steps:.

Step S1: reacting a copper compound nanoparticle with a surface membrane protein aptamer having a sulfhydryl group of the biological nanoparticle to obtain a copper compound-membrane protein aptamer conjugate, wherein the copper compound nanoparticle is one or more selected from a group consisting of: cupric sulfide, cuprous oxide, and cuprous sulfide;.

Step S2: filtering a biological nanoparticle solution containing the biological nanoparticle through a first filter membrane, and adding the copper compound-membrane protein aptamer conjugate to the filtered solution, to obtain a biological nanoparticle-copper compound conjugate after reaction;.

Step S3: adding a surfactant to the reaction solution obtained in Step S2, filtering through a second filter membrane, and washing the second filter membrane with PBS to obtain a third filter membrane containing the biological nanoparticle-copper compound conjugate, wherein a pore size of the second filter membrane is <NUM>; and.

Step S4: adding a AgNO<NUM> solution to the third filter membrane obtained in Step S3 and reacting; and then adding a mixed solution of triethylamine hydrochloride, hydrogen peroxide and <NUM>,<NUM>',<NUM>,<NUM>'-tetramethylbenzidine, reacting for development, and observing the color change of the filter membrane visually by naked eyes or by means of a camera.

Preferably, the biological nanoparticle is an exosome or a virus.

Preferably, in Step S1, a size of the copper compound nanoparticle is <NUM> to <NUM>, and the surface membrane protein aptamer having a sulfhydryl group is one or more selected from a groups consisting of: CD63 aptamer, CD81 aptamer, CD9 aptamer, EpCAM aptamer, HER2 aptamer, MUC1 aptamer, and PSMA aptamer; the reaction time of the copper compound nanoparticle with the surface membrane protein aptamer is <NUM> to <NUM> hrs; and a pore size of the first filter membrane is <NUM>.

Preferably, the reaction time of the biological nanoparticle solution with the copper compound-membrane protein aptamer conjugate in Step S2 is <NUM> to <NUM> hrs.

Preferably, a volume of the biological nanoparticle solution in Step S2 is adjustable, when the concentration of the biological nanoparticle solution is low, the volume of the biological nanoparticle solution is increased to improve the sensitivity.

Preferably, the surfactant in Step S3 is one or more selected from a group consisting of: sodium dodecyl sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and polyvinylpyrrolidone, and the concentration of the surfactant is in the range of <NUM> to <NUM>%.

Preferably, the AgNO<NUM> solution in Step S4 has a concentration of <NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM> M and a volume of <NUM> to <NUM> uL, and the reaction time of substance on a surface of the third filter membrane with the AgNO<NUM> solution is in the range of <NUM> to <NUM>, the concentration of triethylamine hydrochloride is <NUM> to <NUM>, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide is <NUM> to <NUM>, the concentration of <NUM>,<NUM>',<NUM>,<NUM>'-tetramethylbenzidine is <NUM> to <NUM>, and the reaction time is <NUM> to <NUM>.

Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of the present disclosure has the following advantages:.

The technical solution of the present disclosure is based on the highly specific antigen-antibody reaction and the high-efficiency catalytic reaction of copper-amine complexation, and can be used in the high-sensitivity detection of biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses, by visual colorimetric method or by comparison with photos taken by a camera. In this way, high-sensitivity detection of an exosome solution having a concentration as low as <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL is easily achieved without the aid of any instruments.

Compared with the prior art, in the technical solution of the present disclosure, a labeling protein is specifically bound to a biological nanoparticle such as an exosome and a virus, and a copper compound-biological nanoparticle is enriched by filtering through a filter membrane, which can not only eliminate the interference from proteins and small molecules in an actual sample, but also achieve the rapid and high-sensitivity detection of the biological nanoparticle such as an exosome and s virus.

Moreover, the detection method according to the technical solution of the present disclosure has the advantages of low cost, high reaction efficiency, and excellent stability, and can be widely used in the detection of biological nanoparticles such as exosomes and viruses, and in the diagnosis of disease, especially cancer detection.

In order to more clearly explain the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below. Evidently, the drawings depicted below are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on the structures shown in these drawings without any creative efforts.

The objects, functional characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure will be further described in combination with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that if there are directional indications (such as on, below, left, right, front, back. ) involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure, these directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship and movement of various components in a specific posture (as shown in the figures). If the specific posture changes, the directional indications will change accordingly.

In addition, if there are descriptions "first", and "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the descriptions "first" and "second" are used herein merely for the purposes of description, and are not intended to indicate or imply the relative importance or implicitly point out the number of the indicated technical feature. Therefore, the features defined by "first", and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, the technical solutions in various embodiments can be combined with each other, on the condition that the combinations can be accomplished by those of ordinary skill in the art. When a combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be achieved, it is considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist, and does not fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides a method for high-sensitivity detection of an exosome.

In this example of the present disclosure, <NUM> of a CuS nanoparticle solution with a concentration of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL was added to <NUM> uL of a solution of CD63 aptamer having a sulfhydryl group. Then, a <NUM> sodium chloride solution was gradually added to give a final sodium chloride concentration of <NUM> in the solution system. After <NUM> hrs of reaction, the reaction solution was centrifuged and washed to obtain CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer.

<NUM> uL of CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer was added to <NUM> of an exosome solution with a concentration of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL and reacted for half an hour. Then <NUM>% sodium dodecyl sulfate was added, and the solution was filtered through a filter membrane with a pore size of <NUM> and washed three times with PBS, to obtain a filter membrane containing exosomes-CuS. <NUM> uL of a AgNO<NUM> solution having a concentration of <NUM> x <NUM>-<NUM> M was added to the filter membrane and reacted for <NUM>.

A newly prepared <NUM>,<NUM>',<NUM>,<NUM>'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) solution and <NUM> uL of a newly prepared <NUM> mol/L hydrogen peroxide solution were added to <NUM> uL of a triethylamine hydrochloride solution, and mixed uniformly to prepare a detection solution.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without exosomes) and the filter membrane containing exosomes of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL. After standing for <NUM>, the change in color between the filter membranes was observed and detected visually by naked eyes or by taking photos with a camera. The changes in color between the control group (the filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with the control solution without exosomes) and the filter membrane containing exosomes of <NUM><NUM>counts/mL is shown in <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, the filter membrane with exosomes has a very significant difference in color compared to the filter membrane without exosomes.

In this example of the present disclosure, <NUM> of a CuS nanoparticle solution with a concentration of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL was added to <NUM> uL of a solution of CD63 aptamer having a sulfhydryl group. After <NUM> hrs of reaction, the reaction solution was centrifuged and washed to obtain CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer.

<NUM> uL of CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer was added respectively to <NUM> of an exosome solution with a concentration of <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, and <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL and reacted for half an hour. Then <NUM>% cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide was added, and the solution was filtered through a filter membrane with a pore size of <NUM> and washed three times with PBS, to obtain a filter membrane containing exosomes-CuS. <NUM> uL of a AgNO<NUM> solution having a concentration of <NUM> x <NUM>-<NUM> M was added to the filter membrane and reacted for <NUM>.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without exosomes) and the filter membranes containing different concentrations of exosome (<NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> counts/mL, and <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL). After <NUM> of reaction, the changes in color between the filter membranes was detected by visual colorimetric method or by taking photos with a camera. The change in color is shown in <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, as the exosome concentration in the sample solution continues to increase, the color of the filter membrane continues to deepen, such that direct observation with the naked eyes is achieved.

In this example of the present disclosure, <NUM> of a CuS nanoparticle solution with a concentration of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL was added to <NUM> of a solution of CD63 aptamer having a sulfhydryl group. After <NUM> hrs of reaction, the reaction solution was centrifuged and washed to obtain CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer.

<NUM> of CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer was added to <NUM> of an exosome solution with a concentration of <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL and reacted for half an hour. Then <NUM>% sodium dodecyl sulfate was added, and the solution was filtered through a filter membrane with a pore size of <NUM> and washed three times with PBS, to obtain a filter membrane containing exosome-CuS. <NUM> uL of a AgNO<NUM> solution having a concentration of <NUM> x <NUM>-<NUM> M was added to the filter membrane and reacted for <NUM>.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without exosomes) and the filter membrane containing exosomes of <NUM> x <NUM><NUM> counts/mL. After <NUM> of reaction, the change in color between the filter membranes was detected by visual colorimetric method or by taking photos with a camera. The changes in color is shown in <FIG>.

<NUM> uL of CuS nanoparticles bearing CD63 aptamer was added to <NUM> of an exosome solution with a concentration of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL and reacted for half an hour. Then <NUM>% sodium dodecyl sulfate was added, and the solution was filtered through a filter membrane with a pore size of <NUM> and washed three times with PBS, to obtain a filter membrane containing exosome-CuS. <NUM> uL of a AgNO<NUM> solution having a concentration of <NUM> x <NUM>-<NUM> M was added to the filter membrane and reacted for <NUM>.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without exosomes) and the filter membrane containing exosomes of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL. After standing for <NUM>, the changes in color between the filter membranes in the control group and the experiment group was detected by visual colorimetric method or by taking photos with a camera.

In this example of the present disclosure, <NUM> of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was added to <NUM> of a CuS solution, and then <NUM> uL of <NUM> Thiol-Virus Aptamer and <NUM> uL of <NUM> tris(<NUM>-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) were added and reacted for <NUM> to obtain a mixed solution. A <NUM> NaCl solution was gradually added to give a final NaCl concentration of <NUM> in the mixed solution. After <NUM> hrs of reaction, excess Thiol-Virus Aptamer was removed by centrifugation and washing three times with PBS, to obtain CuS-DNA complex particles, which was made up to <NUM> with PBS and stored in a freezer at <NUM>.

<NUM> of a solution containing a certain concentration of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus was added to <NUM> uL of the above-mentioned CuS-DNA solution. After mixing and reacting for <NUM> hr, <NUM>% SDS was added, and the solution was passed through a filter membrane having a pore size of <NUM> to obtain a filter membrane containing virus-CuS complex particles. Then the filter membrane was taken out and <NUM> uL of <NUM>-<NUM> M AgNO<NUM> was added and reacted for <NUM>.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without viruses) and the filter membrane containing viruses of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL. After standing for <NUM>, the changes in color between the filter membranes in the control group and the experiment group was detected by visual colorimetric method or by taking photos with a camera.

The detection solution was added to the control group (a filter membrane obtained by performing the above experiment with a control solution without viruses) and the filter membrane containing exosomes of <NUM><NUM> counts/mL. After standing for <NUM>, the changes in color between the filter membranes in the control group and the experiment group was detected by visual colorimetric method or by taking photos with a camera.

Claim 1:
A biological nanoparticle detection method with high-sensitivity, comprising the following steps:
Step S1: reacting a copper compound nanoparticle with a surface membrane protein aptamer having a sulfhydryl group to obtain a copper compound-membrane protein aptamer conjugate,
characterized in that:
wherein the copper compound nanoparticle is one or more selected from a group consisting of: cupric sulfide, cuprous oxide, and cuprous sulfide;
Step S2: filtering a biological nanoparticle solution containing the biological nanoparticle through a first filter membrane, and adding the copper compound-membrane protein aptamer conjugate to the filtered solution, to obtain a biological nanoparticle-copper compound conjugate after reaction;
Step S3: adding a surfactant to the reaction solution obtained in Step S2, filtering through a second filter membrane, and washing the second filter membrane with PBS to obtain a filter membrane containing the biological nanoparticle-copper compound conjugate, wherein a pore size of the second filter membrane is <NUM>; and
Step S4: adding a AgNO<NUM> solution to the filter membrane obtained in Step S3 and reacting: and then adding a mixed solution of triethylamine hydrochloride, hydrogen peroxide and <NUM>,<NUM>',<NUM>,<NUM>'-tetramethylbenzidine, reacting for development, and observing the color change of the filter membrane visually by naked eyes or by means of a camera.