Construction of a Polarity-Switchable Photoelectrochemical Biosensor for Ultrasensitive Detection of miRNA-141

As an early-stage tumor biomarker, microRNA (miRNA) has clinical application potential and its sensitive and accurate detection is significant for early tumor diagnosis. In this study, a photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensing platform was fabricated for ultrasensitive miRNA-141 detection, which is based on a photocurrent polarity-switchable system using CdS quantum dots (QDs) in the presence of a 5,10,15,20-tetrakis (4-aminophenyl)-21H,23H-porphine (Tph-2H)-coated glassy carbon electrode (GCE). As an excellent photoactive material, Tph-2H has a narrow band gap that effectively gathers photoelectrons under visible light irradiation and improves the transfer ability of photogenerated electrons. Further, the detection sensitivity of miRNA-141 could be significantly improved by combining an enzyme-assisted recycle amplification reaction and a magnetic bead-based separation strategy. The proposed photocurrent polarity-switchable PEC biosensor could efficiently eliminate the false-positive or false-negative signals and achieve a wide linear response range from 1 fM to 1 nM with a low detection limit of 0.33 fM for miRNA-141, providing a potentially alternative solution for detecting other biomarkers in bioanalysis and clinical diagnosis.