A molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical biosensor for detection of VacA virulence factor of H. pylori causing gastric cancer

A novel MIP-based electrochemical sensing platform was developed for the ultrasensitive detection of vacuo-lating cytotoxin A (VacA) toxin of H. pylori bacteria. VacA virulence factor is majorly involved in H. pylori -associated pathogenesis and plays a vital role in the establishment of bacteria inside host gastric cells. Herein, we have developed a SiO2 nanoparticle decorated imprinting polymer-based sensing platform on a screen printed electrode (SPE) that is attributed as a receptor of VacA protein. The molecularly imprinted polymer has been developed by a polymerization process directly over the screen-printed electrode using template VacA antigen and the performance of the fabricated electrode was studied electrochemically. Under the optimized experi-mental conditions the fabricated VacA-MIP/SiO2 @SPE sensor exhibits high sensitivity (0.304 mA ng-1 ml -1) and a very low limit of detection (0.01 ng ml -1) in a 0.01-100 ng ml -1 linear range. The influence of various other possible interferents in analytical response has also been observed with the successful determination of VacA antigen.