Nanozyme-strip for rapid local diagnosis of Ebola

Significance Statement

There has been over 25,0000 patients infected with ebola with over 10,000 already died from ebola virus. The current approved WHO technique to detect ebola virus is based on colloidal gold strip method for emergency diagnosis. However, this technique suffers from 15% error margin. The new ebola robust detection method developed by a collaborative research work between Canadian and Chinese scientists is cost-effective, 100 times more sensitive than current techniques and can detect ebola within 30 minutes (before symptoms appears). Nanozyme strip technology has the potential to be a platform detection technique for various diseases.

Journal Reference

Biosens Bioelectron. 2015 Dec 15;74:134-41

Duan D¹, Fan K¹, Zhang D¹, Tan S², Liang M³, Liu Y³, Zhang J¹, Zhang P⁴, Liu W⁴, Qiu X⁵, Kobinger GP⁵, Fu Gao G⁶, Yan X⁷.

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¹Key Laboratory of Protein and Peptide Pharmaceuticals, CAS-University of Tokyo Joint Laboratory of Structural Virology and Immunology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

²CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

³National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100052, China.

⁴State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China.

⁵National Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3R2, Canada.

⁶CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Office of Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.

⁷Key Laboratory of Protein and Peptide Pharmaceuticals, CAS-University of Tokyo Joint Laboratory of Structural Virology and Immunology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

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Abstract
Ebola continues to rage in West Africa. In the absence of an approved vaccine or treatment, the priority in controlling this epidemic is to promptly identify and isolate infected individuals. To this end, a rapid, highly sensitive, and easy-to-use test for Ebola diagnosis is urgently needed. Here, by using Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) as a nanozyme probe, we developed a MNP-based immunochromatographic strip (Nanozyme-strip), which detects the glycoprotein of Ebola virus (EBOV) as low as 1ng/mL, which is 100-fold more sensitive than the standard strip method. The sensitivity of the Nanozyme-strip for Ebola virus detection and diagnostic accuracy for New Bunyavirus clinical samples is comparable with ELISA, but is much faster (within 30min) and simpler (without need of specialist facilities). The results demonstrate that the Nanozyme-strip test can rapidly and sensitively detect Ebola virus, providing a valuable simple screening tool for diagnosis of infection in Ebola-stricken areas.