Abstract
Infectious diseases alone are estimated to result in approximately 40% of the 50 million total annual deaths globally. The importance of basic research in the control of emerging and re-emerging diseases cannot be overemphasized. However, new nanotechnology-based methodologies exploiting unique surface-located glycoproteins or their patterns can be exploited to detect pathogens at the point of use or on-site with high specificity and sensitivity. These technologies will, therefore, affect our ability in the future to more accurately assess risk. The critical challenge is making these new methodologies cost-effective, as well as simple to use, for the diagnostics industry and public healthcare providers. Miniaturization of biochemical assays in lab-on-a-chip devices has emerged as a promising tool. Miniaturization has the potential to shape modern biotechnology and how point-of-care testing of infectious diseases will be performed by developing smart microdevices that require minute amounts of sample and reagents and are cost-effective, robust, and sensitive and specific. The current review provides a short overview of some of the futuristic approaches using simple molecular interactions between glycoproteins and glycoprotein-binding molecules for the efficient and rapid detection of various pathogens at the point of use, advancing the emerging field of glyconanodiagnostics.
Highlights
Microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, are widely found in the environment, marine and estuarine waters, soil, food, and the intestinal tracts of humans and animals
Bacterial lectins occur in the form of elongated, submicroscopic, multi-subunit protein appendages, which are known as fimbriae or pili and which interact with glycoprotein and glycolipid receptors on host cells
Identification of pathogens may take a few days using conventional approaches; interest is growing in alternate methods, such as glycoprotein-based diagnostics, which can be exploited to develop rapid and economical methodologies by detecting surface located glycoproteins or their patterns with high specificity and selectivity
Summary
Microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, are widely found in the environment, marine and estuarine waters, soil, food, and the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. The more costly and laborious PCR assays are often necessary to enhance these screenings Since these diagnostic methods are generally cumbersome and often have limited sensitivity, a variety of new pathogen-detection methods, including microcantilevers [7], evanescent wave biosensors [8], immunosorbent electron microscopy [9], and atomic force microscopy [10], have been investigated. Peptide biosensors use peptides for molecular detection, making use of the specific binding sites on the target molecule Such biosensors have shown potential, and the exploitation of protein biomarkers is extensively used for the monitoring and diagnosis of various diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, microbial infections, and pregnancy screening [14]. Development of such devices would be a milestone, highlighting the need more effort and research to understand and develop practical approaches to exploit these biomolecules
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