Highly sensitive miRNA detection of early-stage laryngeal carcinoma using a solid-state Au nanocone arrays fabricated LoC-SERS analysis system coupled with target-triggered dual cycle amplification strategy

Herein, with a target-triggered dual cycle amplification strategy, a novel lab-on-a-chip-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (LoC-SERS) analysis system was established to analyze miRNAs quantitatively. Due to a more substantial complementary pairing effect, the presence of targets can replace the single-stranded DNA S1 (S1) from the single-stranded DNA F1 (F1) and single-stranded DNA S2 (S2) can replace and release the targets similarly. Thus, target can cyclically trigger the cycle I and release S1 continuously. Cycle II is the catalyzed hairpin assembly (CHA) event between the hairpin DNA 1 and hairpin DNA 2, which can connect the Ag-Au nanorods (Ag-AuNRs) to the surface of solid-state Au nanocone arrays (AuNCAs). Owing the dual cycle amplification strategy, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) can be excited and significantly magnify the local electromagnetic field for SERS signal enhancement. Thus, ultrasensitive detection of miR-21 and miR-106b was achieved with the limit of detection as low as aM level. Attributed to the hydrophilic treatment and the design of capillary pump, the detection can be finished without any external pumps. Moreover, the system exhibited good practicability in the analysis of real serum samples obtained from Laryngeal carcinoma (LC) patients and healthy subjects. Therefore, the system is a promising candidate in clinical application and exhibited potential for the prediction, diagnosis, monitoring, and staging of LC.