An enzyme-free sensing platform for miRNA detection and in situ imaging in clinical samples based on DNAzyme cleavage-triggered catalytic hairpin assembly

MicroRNA (miRNA) is demonstrated to be associated with the occurrence and development of various diseases including cancer. Currently, most miRNA detection methods are confined to in vitro detection and cannot obtain information on the temporal and spatial expression of miRNA in relevant tissues and cells. In this work, we established a novel enzyme-free method that can be applied to both in vitro detection and in situ imaging of miRNA by integrating DNAzyme and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) circuits. This developed CHA-Amplified DNAzyme miRNA (CHAzymi) detection system can realize the quantitively in vitro detection of miR-146b (the biomarker of papillary thyroid carcinoma, PTC) ranging from 25 fmol to 625 fmol. This strategy has also been successfully applied to in situ imaging of miR-146b both in human PTC cell TPC-1 and clinical samples, showing its capacity as an alternative diagnostic method for PTC. Furthermore, this CHAzymi system can be employed as a versatile sensing platform for various miRNAs by revising the relevant sequences. The results imply that this system may expand the modality of miRNA detection and show promise as a novel diagnostic tool in clinical settings, providing valuable insights for effective treatment and management of the disease.