CRISPR/Cas12a-derived sensitive electrochemical biosensing of NF-κB p50 based on hybridization chain reaction and DNA hydrogel

Transcription factors (TFs) are key substances in regulating the transcription, replication and expression of genes, and the detection of TFs can provide valuable information to diagnose a variety of diseases. By integrating hybridization chain reaction (HCR)-activated Cas12a enzyme with bio-responsive DNA hydrogels, we propose a dual amplification and label-free homogeneous electrochemical detection method to realize sensitive nuclear factor-kappa B p50 (NF-κB p50) detection. The presence of the target molecules protects the DNA duplex probes from digesting by exonuclease III and initiates HCR to generate long double stranded DNAs that can activate the activity of RNA-guided Cas12a enzymes. The single-stranded region of the DNA linkers that crosslink the DNA hydrogels can be cleaved by the activated Cas12a to release a large number of electroactive substances embedded in the gels, which exhibit highly enhanced electrochemical signals for detecting target molecules at the detection limit of 54.1 fM. In addition, the successful interrogation of NF-κB p50 spiked into lysate of HeLa cells by such method is also verified. The established method thus shows new opportunities for sensitive and convenient monitoring of other transcription factors and biomarkers.