Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on H37Rv binding peptides using surface functionalized magnetic microspheres coupled with quantum dots – a nano detection method for Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Hua Yang,1 Lianhua Qin,1 Yilong Wang,2 Bingbo Zhang,2 Zhonghua Liu,1 Hui Ma,1 Junmei Lu,1 Xiaochen Huang,1 Donglu Shi,2,3 Zhongyi Hu1 1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Shanghai East Hospital, The Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Nano Science, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3The Materials Science and Engineering Program, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA Abstract: Despite suffering from the major disadvantage of low sensitivity, microscopy of direct smear with the Ziehl–Neelsen stain is still broadly used for detection of acid-fast bacilli and diagnosis of tuberculosis. Here, we present a unique detection method of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) using surface functionalized magnetic microspheres (MMSs) coupled with quantum dots (QDs), conjugated with various antibodies and phage display-derived peptides. The principle is based upon the conformation of the sandwich complex composed of bacterial cells, MMSs, and QDs. The complex system is tagged with QDs for providing the fluorescent signal as part of the detection while magnetic separation is achieved by MMSs. The peptide ligand H8 derived from the phage display library Ph.D.-7 is developed for MTB cells. Using the combinations of MMS-polyclonal antibody+QD-H8 and MMS-H8+QD-H8, a strong signal of 103 colony forming units (CFU)/mL H37Rv was obtained with improved specificity. MS-H8+QD-H8 combination was further optimized by adjusting the concentrations of MMSs, QDs, and incubation time for the maximum detection signal. The limit of detection for MTB was found to reach 103 CFU/mL even for the sputum matrices. Positive sputum samples could be distinguished from control. Thus, this novel method is shown to improve the detection limit and specificity of MTB from the sputum samples, and to reduce the testing time for accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis, which needs further confirmation of more clinical samples. Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, phage display, binding peptides, magnetic microspheres, quantum dots, detectio