Affordable ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of PCA3 for early prostate cancer diagnosis.

Prostate cancer frequently goes undetected at its early stage and it's a major concern in the male population. To address this challenge, we provide a new approach based on electrochemical biosensing for the efficient detection of prostate cancer using PCA3 DNA biomarkers. Screen-printed paper electrodes were fabricated and modified with gold graphene quantum dots (Au-GQD), which were synthesized by an established domestic microwave method. Au-GQD, with their unique properties, find applications in various fields, including sensing, biomedicine, and catalysis, due to their enhanced catalytic activity, biocompatibility, and optical properties. Further, a PCA3 probe DNA was immobilized and characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The developed sensing platform exhibits an excellent limit of detection (LoD) of 1.37 fM and 1.41 fM by CV and EIS, respectively. The limit of quantification (LoQ) is 4.08 and 4.27 by CV and EIS, respectively, within a linear range of detection (100 nM-100 fM). The stability of the developed sensor was found to be around 30 days with a hybridization time of 1 min. The proposed sensor effectively recognized PCA3 biomarkers in real urine amidst various interferents. In the future, the sensing platform could improve the prognosis of the disease by enabling early-stage identification.