Modulation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease progression by antioxidant metabolites from Pediococcus pentosaceus: enhancing gut probiotics abundance and the tryptophan-melatonin pathway.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition primarily linked to oxidative stress, poses significant health burdens worldwide. Recent evidence has shed light on the association between the dysbiosis of gut microbiota and COPD, and their metabolites have emerged as potential modulators of disease progression through the intricate gut-lung axis. Here, we demonstrate the efficacy of oral administration of the probiotic Pediococcus pentosaceus SMM914 (SMM914) in delaying the progression of COPD by attenuating pulmonary oxidative stress. Specially, SMM914 induces a notable shift in the gut microbiota toward a community structure characterized by an augmented abundance of probiotics producing short-chain fatty acids and antioxidant metabolisms. Concurrently, SMM914 synthesizes L-tryptophanamide, 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan, and 3-sulfino-L-alanine, thereby enhancing the tryptophan-melatonin pathway and elevating 6-hydroxymelatonin and hypotaurine in the lung environment. This modulation amplifies the secretion of endogenous anti-inflammatory factors, diminishes macrophage polarization toward the M1 phenotype, and ultimately mitigates the oxidative stress in mice with COPD. The demonstrated efficacy of the probiotic intervention, specifically with SMM914, not only highlights the modulation of intestine microbiota but also emphasizes the consequential impact on the intricate interplay between the gastrointestinal system and respiratory health.

Protein-assisted synthesis of chitosan-coated minicells enhance dendritic cell recruitment for therapeutic immunomodulation within pulmonary tumors.

The efficacy of cancer therapies is significantly compromised by the immunosuppressive tumor milieu. Herein, we introduce a previously unidentified therapeutic strategy that harnesses the synergistic potential of chitosan-coated bacterial vesicles and a targeted chemotherapeutic agent to activate dendritic cells, thereby reshaping the immunosuppressive milieu for enhanced cancer therapy. Our study focuses on the protein-mediated modification of bacterium-derived minicells with chitosan molecules, facilitating the precise delivery of Doxorubicin to tumor sites guided by folate-mediated homing cues. These engineered minicells demonstrate remarkable specificity in targeting lung carcinomas, triggering immunogenic cell death and releasing tumor antigens and damage-associated molecular patterns, including calreticulin and high mobility group box 1. Additionally, the chitosan coating, coupled with bacterial DNA from the minicells, initiates the generation of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial DNA release. These orchestrated events culminate in dendritic cell maturation via activation of the stimulator of interferon genes signaling pathway, resulting in the recruitment of CD4+ and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and the secretion of interferon-ß, interferon-γ, and interleukin-12. Consequently, this integrated approach disrupts the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, impeding tumor progression. By leveraging bacterial vesicles as potent dendritic cell activators, our strategy presents a promising paradigm for synergistic cancer treatment, seamlessly integrating chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

2,4,5-Triaminopyrimidines as blue fluorescent probes for cell viability monitoring: synthesis, photophysical properties, and microscopy applications.

Monitoring cell viability is critical in cell biology, pathology, and drug discovery. Most cell viability assays are cell-destructive, time-consuming, expensive, and/or hazardous. Herein, we present a series of newly synthesized 2,4,5-triaminopyrimidine derivatives able to discriminate between live and dead cells. To our knowledge, these compounds are the first fluorescent nucleobase analogues (FNAs) with cell viability monitoring potential. These new fluorescent molecules are synthesized using highly efficient and cost-effective methods and feature unprecedented photophysical properties (longer absorption and emission wavelengths, environment-sensitive emission, and unprecedented brightness within FNAs). Using a live-dead Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell and theoretical assays, the fluorescent 2,4,5-triaminopyrimidine derivatives were found to specifically accumulate inside dead cells by interacting with dsDNA grooves, thus paving the way for the emergence of novel and safe fluorescent cell viability markers emitting in the blue region. As the majority of commercially available viability dyes emit in the green to red region of the visible spectrum, these novel markers might be useful to meet the needs of blue markers for co-staining combinations.

Exosomes modified with anti-MEK1 siRNA lead to an effective silencing of triple negative breast cancer cells.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogenous disease not sensitive to endocrine or HER2 therapy and standardized treatment regimens are still missing. Therefore, development of novel TNBC treatment approaches is of utmost relevance. Herein, the potential of MAPK/ERK downregulation by RNAi-based therapeutics in a panel of mesenchymal stem-like TNBC cell lines was uncovered. Our data revealed that suppression of one of the central nodes of this signaling pathway, MEK1, affects proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells, that may be explained by the reversion of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype, which is facilitated by the MMP-2/MMP-9 downregulation. Moreover, an exosome-based system was successfully generated for the siRNA loading (iExoMEK1). Our data suggested absence of modification of the physical properties and general integrity of the iExoMEK1 comparatively to the unmodified counterparts. Such exosome-mediated downregulation of MEK1 led to a tumor regression accompanied by a decrease of angiogenesis using the chick chorioallantoic-membrane model. Our results highlight the potential of the targeting of MAPK/ERK cascade as a promising therapeutic approach against TNBC.

Functional and sequence-based metagenomics to uncover carbohydrate-degrading enzymes from composting samples.

The renewable, abundant , and low-cost nature of lignocellulosic biomass can play an important role in the sustainable production of bioenergy and several added-value bioproducts, thus providing alternative solutions to counteract the global energetic and industrial demands. The efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass greatly relies on the catalytic activity of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). Finding novel and robust biocatalysts, capable of being active under harsh industrial conditions, is thus imperative to achieve an economically feasible process. In this study, thermophilic compost samples from three Portuguese companies were collected, and their metagenomic DNA was extracted and sequenced through shotgun sequencing. A novel multi-step bioinformatic pipeline was developed to find CAZymes and characterize the taxonomic and functional profiles of the microbial communities, using both reads and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) as input. The samples' microbiome was dominated by bacteria, where the classes Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Balneolia stood out for their higher abundance, indicating that the degradation of compost biomass is mainly driven by bacterial enzymatic activity. Furthermore, the functional studies revealed that our samples are a rich reservoir of glycoside hydrolases (GH), particularly of GH5 and GH9 cellulases, and GH3 oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. We further constructed metagenomic fosmid libraries with the compost DNA and demonstrated that a great number of clones exhibited ß-glucosidase activity. The comparison of our samples with others from the literature showed that, independently of the composition and process conditions, composting is an excellent source of lignocellulose-degrading enzymes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative study on the CAZyme abundance and taxonomic/functional profiles of Portuguese compost samples. KEY POINTS: • Sequence- and function-based metagenomics were used to find CAZymes in compost samples. • Thermophilic composts proved to be rich in bacterial GH3, GH5, and GH9 enzymes. • Compost-derived fosmid libraries are enriched in clones with ß-glucosidase activity.

Cerebral Malaria Model Applying Human Brain Organoids.

Neural injuries in cerebral malaria patients are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, a comprehensive research approach to study this issue is lacking, so herein we propose an in vitro system to study human cerebral malaria using cellular approaches. Our first goal was to establish a cellular system to identify the molecular alterations in human brain vasculature cells that resemble the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in cerebral malaria (CM). Through transcriptomic analysis, we characterized specific gene expression profiles in human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) activated by the Plasmodium falciparum parasites. We also suggest potential new genes related to parasitic activation. Then, we studied its impact at brain level after Plasmodium falciparum endothelial activation to gain a deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying CM. For that, the impact of HBMEC-P. falciparum-activated secretomes was evaluated in human brain organoids. Our results support the reliability of in vitro cellular models developed to mimic CM in several aspects. These systems can be of extreme importance to investigate the factors (parasitological and host) influencing CM, contributing to a molecular understanding of pathogenesis, brain injury, and dysfunction.

Can Superhydrophobic PET Surfaces Prevent Bacterial Adhesion?

Prevention of bacterial adhesion is a way to reduce and/or avoid biofilm formation, thus restraining its associated infections. The development of repellent anti-adhesive surfaces, such as superhydrophobic surfaces, can be a strategy to avoid bacterial adhesion. In this study, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was modified by in situ growth of silica nanoparticles (NPs) to create a rough surface. The surface was further modified with fluorinated carbon chains to increase its hydrophobicity. The modified PET surfaces presented a pronounced superhydrophobic character, showing a water contact angle of 156° and a roughness of 104 nm (a considerable increase comparing with the 69° and 4.8 nm obtained for the untreated PET). Scanning Electron Microscopy was used to evaluate the modified surfaces morphology, further confirming its successful modification with nanoparticles. Additionally, a bacterial adhesion assay using an Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia so-called Yersinia adhesin A, was used to assess the anti-adhesive potential of the modified PET. Contrarily to what was expected, adhesion of E. coli YadA was found to increase on the modified PET surfaces, exhibiting a clear preference for the crevices. This study highlights the role of material micro topography as an important attribute when considering bacterial adhesion.

Aptasensor for the Detection of Moraxella catarrhalis Adhesin UspA2.

Innovative point-of-care (PoC) diagnostic platforms are desirable to surpass the deficiencies of conventional laboratory diagnostic methods for bacterial infections and to tackle the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis. In this study, a workflow was implemented, comprising the identification of new aptamers with high affinity for the ubiquitous surface protein A2 (UspA2) of the bacterial pathogen Moraxella catarrhalis and the development of an electrochemical biosensor functionalized with the best-performing aptamer as a bioreceptor to detect UspA2. After cell-systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (cell-SELEX) was performed, next-generation sequencing was used to sequence the final aptamer pool. The most frequent aptamer sequences were further evaluated using bioinformatic tools. The two most promising aptamer candidates, Apt1 and Apt1_RC (Apt1 reverse complement), had Kd values of 214.4 and 3.4 nM, respectively. Finally, a simple and label-free electrochemical biosensor was functionalized with Apt1_RC. The aptasensor surface modifications were confirmed by impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The ability to detect UspA2 was evaluated by square wave voltammetry, exhibiting a linear detection range of 4.0 × 104-7.0 × 107 CFU mL-1, a square correlation coefficient superior to 0.99 and a limit of detection of 4.0 × 104 CFU mL-1 at pH 5.0. The workflow described has the potential to be part of a sensitive PoC diagnostic platform to detect and quantify M. catarrhalis from biological samples.

Design of new hydrolyzed collagen-modified magnetic nanoparticles to capture pathogens.

Enrichment and diagnosis tools for pathogens currently available are time consuming, thus the development of fast and highly sensitive alternatives is desirable. In this study, a novel approach was described that enables selective capture of bacteria expressing hydrolyzed collagen-binding adhesins with hydrolyzed collagen-coated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). This platform could be useful to shorten the time needed to confirm the presence of a bacterial infection. MNPs were synthesized by a simple two-step approach through a green co-precipitation method using water as solvent. These MNPs were specifically designed to interact with pathogenic bacteria by establishing a hydrolyzed collagen-adhesin linker. The bacterial capture efficacy of hydrolyzed collagen MNPs (H-Coll@MNPs) for bacteria expressing collagen binding adhesins was 1.3 times higher than that of arginine MNPs (Arg@MNPs), herein used as control. More importantly, after optimization of the MNP concentration and contact time, the H-Coll@MNPs were able to capture 95% of bacteria present in the samples. More importantly, the bacteria can be enriched within 30 min and the time for bacterial identification is effectively shortened in comparison to the "gold standard" in clinical diagnosis. These results suggest that H-Coll@MNPs can be used for the selective isolation of specific bacteria from mixed populations present, for example, in biological samples.

Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Assessment of Citrate-Coated Calcium and Manganese Ferrite Nanoparticles for Magnetic Hyperthermia.

Calcium-doped manganese ferrite nanoparticles (NPs) are gaining special interest in the biomedical field due to their lower cytotoxicity compared with other ferrites, and the fact that they have improved magnetic properties. Magnetic hyperthermia (MH) is an alternative cancer treatment, in which magnetic nanoparticles promote local heating that can lead to the apoptosis of cancer cells. In this work, manganese/calcium ferrite NPs coated with citrate (CaxMn1-xFe2O4 (x = 0, 0.2, 1), were synthesized by the sol-gel method, followed by calcination, and then characterized regarding their crystalline structure (by X-ray diffraction, XRD), size and shape (by Transmission Electron Microscopy, TEM), hydrodynamic size and zeta potential (by Dynamic Light Scattering, DLS), and heating efficiency (measuring the Specific Absorption Rate, SAR, and Intrinsic Loss Power, ILP) under an alternating magnetic field. The obtained NPs showed a particle size within the range of 10 nm to 20 nm (by TEM) with a spherical or cubic shape. Ca0.2Mn0.8Fe2O4 NPs exhibited the highest SAR value of 36.3 W/g at the lowest field frequency tested, and achieved a temperature variation of ~7 °C in 120 s, meaning that these NPs are suitable magnetic hyperthermia agents. In vitro cellular internalization and cytotoxicity experiments, performed using the human cell line HEK 293T, confirmed cytocompatibility over 0-250 µg/mL range and successful internalization after 24 h. Based on these studies, our data suggest that these manganese-calcium ferrite NPs have potential for MH application and further use in in vivo systems.

Challenges in the Heterologous Production of Furanocoumarins in Escherichia coli.

Coumarins and furanocoumarins are plant secondary metabolites with known biological activities. As they are present in low amounts in plants, their heterologous production emerged as a more sustainable and efficient approach to plant extraction. Although coumarins biosynthesis has been positively established, furanocoumarin biosynthesis has been far more challenging. This study aims to evaluate if Escherichia coli could be a suitable host for furanocoumarin biosynthesis. The biosynthetic pathway for coumarins biosynthesis in E. coli was effectively constructed, leading to the production of umbelliferone, esculetin and scopoletin (128.7, 17.6, and 15.7 µM, respectively, from tyrosine). However, it was not possible to complete the pathway with the enzymes that ultimately lead to furanocoumarins production. Prenyltransferase, psoralen synthase, and marmesin synthase did not show any activity when expressed in E. coli. Several strategies were tested to improve the enzymes solubility and activity with no success, including removing potential N-terminal transit peptides and expression of cytochrome P450 reductases, chaperones and/or enzymes to increase dimethylallylpyrophosphate availability. Considering the results herein obtained, E. coli does not seem to be an appropriate host to express these enzymes. However, new alternative microbial enzymes may be a suitable option for reconstituting the furanocoumarins pathway in E. coli. Nevertheless, until further microbial enzymes are identified, Saccharomyces cerevisiae may be considered a preferred host as it has already been proven to successfully express some of these plant enzymes.

Lactoferrin perturbs intracellular trafficking, disrupts cholesterol-rich lipid rafts and inhibits glycolysis of highly metastatic cancer cells harbouring plasmalemmal V-ATPase.

The milk-derived bovine lactoferrin (bLf) is an iron-binding glycoprotein with remarkable selective anticancer activity towards highly metastatic cancer cells displaying the proton pump V-ATPase at the plasma membrane. As studies aiming to dissect the bLf mechanisms of action are critical to improve its efficacy and boost its targeted clinical use, herein we sought to further uncover the molecular basis of bLf anticancer activity. We showed that bLf co-localizes with V-ATPase and cholesterol-rich lipid rafts at the plasma membrane of highly metastatic cancer cells. Our data also revealed that bLf perturbs cellular trafficking, induces intracellular accumulation of cholesterol and lipid rafts disruption, downregulates PI3K, and AKT or p-AKT and inhibits glycolysis of cancer cells harbouring V-ATPase at the plasma membrane lipid rafts. Altogether, our results can lay the foundation for future bLf-based targeted anticancer strategies as they unravel a novel cascade of molecular events that explains and further reinforces bLf selectivity for cancer cells displaying plasmalemmal V-ATPase.

Acid-Directed Electrostatic Self-Assembly Generates Charge-Reversible Bacteria for Enhanced Tumor Targeting and Low Tissue Trapping.

Despite recent preclinical progress with oncolytic bacteria in cancer therapy, dose-limiting toxicity has been a long-standing challenge for clinical application. Genetic and chemical modifications for enhancing the bacterial tumor-targeting ability have been unable to establish a balance between increasing its specificity and effectiveness while decreasing side effects. Herein, we report a simple, highly efficient method for rapidly self-assembling a clinically used lipid on bacterium and for reducing its minimum effective dose and toxicity to normal organs. The resultant bacteria present the ability to reverse-charge between neutral and acidic solutions, thus enabling weak interactions with the negatively charged normal cells, hence increasing their biocompatibility with blood cells and with the immune system. Additionally, the lipid-coated bacteria exhibit a longer blood circulation lifetime and low tissue trapping compared with the wild-type strains. Thereby, the engineered bacteria show enhanced tumor specificity and effectiveness even at low doses. Multiple visualization techniques are used for vividly demonstrating the time course of bacterial circulation in the blood and normal organs after intravenous administration. We believe that these methods for biointerfacial lipid self-assembly and evaluation of bacterial systemic circulation possess vast potential in exquisitely fabricating engineered bacteria for cancer therapy in the future.

Electrochemical Aptasensor for the Detection of the Key Virulence Factor YadA of Yersinia enterocolitica.

New point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of bacterial infections are imperative to overcome the deficiencies of conventional methods, such as culture and molecular methods. In this study, we identified new aptamers that bind to the virulence factor Yersinia adhesin A (YadA) of Yersinia enterocolitica using cell-systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (cell-SELEX). Escherichia coli expressing YadA on the cell surface was used as a target cell. After eight cycles of selection, the final aptamer pool was sequenced by high throughput sequencing using the Illumina Novaseq platform. The sequencing data, analyzed using the Geneious software, was aligned, filtered and demultiplexed to obtain the key nucleotides possibly involved in the target binding. The most promising aptamer candidate, Apt1, bound specifically to YadA with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 11 nM. Apt1 was used to develop a simple electrochemical biosensor with a two-step, label-free design towards the detection of YadA. The sensor surface modifications and its ability to bind successfully and stably to YadA were confirmed by cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and square wave voltammetry. The biosensor enabled the detection of YadA in a linear range between 7.0 × 104 and 7.0 × 107 CFU mL−1 and showed a square correlation coefficient >0.99. The standard deviation and the limit of detection was ~2.5% and 7.0 × 104 CFU mL−1, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that this novel biosensor incorporating Apt1 can potentially be used as a sensitive POC detection system to aid the diagnosis of Y. enterocolitica infections. Furthermore, this simple yet innovative approach could be replicated to select aptamers for other (bacterial) targets and to develop the corresponding biosensors for their detection.

Tailoring fructooligosaccharides composition with engineered Zymomonas mobilis ZM4.

Zymomonas mobilis ZM4 is an attractive host for the development of microbial cell factories to synthesize high-value compounds, including prebiotics. In this study, a straightforward process to produce fructooligosaccharides (FOS) from sucrose was established. To control the relative FOS composition, recombinant Z. mobilis strains secreting a native levansucrase (encoded by sacB) or a mutated ß-fructofuranosidase (Ffase-Leu196) from Schwanniomyces occidentalis were constructed. Both strains were able to produce a FOS mixture with high concentration of 6-kestose. The best results were obtained with Z. mobilis ZM4 pB1-sacB that was able to produce 73.4 ± 1.6 g L-1 of FOS, with a productivity of 1.53 ± 0.03 g L-1 h-1 and a yield of 0.31 ± 0.03 gFOS gsucrose-1. This is the first report on the FOS production using a mutant Z. mobilis ZM4 strain in a one-step process. KEY POINTS: • Zymomonas mobilis was engineered to produce FOS in a one-step fermentation process. • Mutant strains produced FOS mixtures with high concentration of 6-kestose. • A new route to produce tailor-made FOS mixtures was presented.

Colorimetric Paper-Based Sensors against Cancer Biomarkers.

Cancer is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Detection and quantification of cancer biomarkers plays a critical role in cancer early diagnosis, screening, and treatment. Clinicians, particularly in developing countries, deal with high costs and limited resources for diagnostic systems. Using low-cost substrates to develop sensor devices could be very helpful. The interest in paper-based sensors with colorimetric detection increased exponentially in the last decade as they meet the criteria for point-of-care (PoC) devices. Cellulose and different nanomaterials have been used as substrate and colorimetric probes, respectively, for these types of devices in their different designs as spot tests, lateral-flow assays, dipsticks, and microfluidic paper-based devices (µPADs), offering low-cost and disposable devices. However, the main challenge with these devices is their low sensitivity and lack of efficiency in performing quantitative measurements. This review includes an overview of the use of paper for the development of sensing devices focusing on colorimetric detection and their application to cancer biomarkers. We highlight recent works reporting the use of paper in the development of colorimetric sensors for cancer biomarkers, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and others. Finally, we discuss the main advantages of these types of devices and highlight their major pitfalls.

In Vitro CRISPR/Cas9 Transfection and Gene-Editing Mediated by Multivalent Cationic Liposome-DNA Complexes.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9) gene-editing offers exciting new therapeutic possibilities for disease treatment with a genetic etiology such as cancer, cardiovascular, neuronal, and immune disorders. However, its clinical translation is being hampered by the lack of safe, versatile, and effective nonviral delivery systems. Herein we report on the preparation and application of two cationic liposome−DNA systems (i.e., lipoplexes) for CRISPR/Cas9 gene delivery. For that purpose, two types of cationic lipids are used (DOTAP, monovalent, and MVL5, multivalent with +5e nominal charge), along with three types of helper lipids (DOPC, DOPE, and monoolein (GMO)). We demonstrated that plasmids encoding Cas9 and single-guide RNA (sgRNA), which are typically hard to transfect due to their large size (>9 kb), can be successfully transfected into HEK 293T cells via MVL5-based lipoplexes. In contrast, DOTAP-based lipoplexes resulted in very low transfection rates. MVL5-based lipoplexes presented the ability to escape from lysosomes, which may explain the superior transfection efficiency. Regarding gene editing, MVL5-based lipoplexes achieved promising GFP knockout levels, reaching rates of knockout superior to 35% for charge ratios (+/−) of 10. Despite the knockout efficiency being comparable to that of Lipofectamine 3000® commercial reagent, the non-specific gene knockout is more pronounced in MVL5-based formulations, probably resulting from the considerable cytotoxicity of these formulations. Altogether, these results show that multivalent lipid-based lipoplexes are promising CRISPR/Cas9 plasmid delivery vehicles, which by further optimization and functionalization may become suitable in vivo delivery systems.

Hydrolysates containing xylooligosaccharides produced by different strategies: Structural characterization, antioxidant and prebiotic activities.

This study explores the structural characterization, antioxidant and prebiotic activities of hydrolysates containing xylooligosaccharides (XOS) produced by different strategies: direct fermentation of beechwood xylan (FermBX) and enzymatic treatment of beechwood (EnzBX) and rice husk (EnzRH) xylans. EnzBX and EnzRH showed XOS with a backbone of (1 â†’ 4)-linked-xylopyranosyl residues and branches of arabinose, galactose, and uronic acids. FermBX presented the highest content of total phenolic compounds (14 mg GAE/g) and flavonoids (0.6 mg QE/g), which may contribute to its antioxidant capacity -39.1 µmol TE/g (DPPH), 45.7 µmol TE/g (ABTS), and 79.9 µmol Fe II/g (FRAP). The fermentation of hydrolysates decreased the abundance of microorganisms associated with intestinal diseases from Eubacteriales, Desulfovibrionales and Methanobacteriales orders, while stimulating the growth of organisms belonging to Bacteroides, Megamonas and Limosilactobacillus genera. The production of short-chain fatty acids, ammonia, and CO2 suggested the prebiotic potential. In conclusion, hydrolysates without previous purification and obtained from non-chemical approaches demonstrated promising biological activities for further food applications.

Electrochemical Aptasensors for Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Detection.

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers are characteristic molecules that can serve as indicators of biological process status or condition; here, they are being studied with special relevance to Parkinson's Disease (PD). This disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder very difficult to study given the site of pathology and due to a clinical phenotype that fluctuates over time. Currently, there is no definitive diagnostic test for Parkinson's Disease; thus, clinicians hope that the detection of crucial biomarkers will help in the symptomatic and presymptomatic diagnostics and provide surrogate endpoints to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of new treatments. METHODS: Electrochemical aptasensors are excellent analytical tools that are used in the detection of PD biomarkers, as they are portable, easy to use, and perform real-time analysis. RESULTS: In this review, we discuss the most important clinical biomarkers for PD, highlighting their physiological role and function in the disease. Herein, we review, for the first time, innovative aptasensors for the detection of current potential PD biomarkers based on electrochemical techniques and discuss future alternatives, including ideal analytical platforms for point-of-care diagnostics. CONCLUSION: These new tools will be critical not only in the discovery of sensitive, specific, and reliable biomarkers of preclinical PD, but also in the development of tests that can assist in the early detection and differential diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders and in monitoring disease progression. Various methods for fixing aptamers onto the sensor surfaces, enabling quantitative and specific PD biomarker detection present in synthetic and clinical samples, will also be discussed.