An electrochemical immunosensor for global DNA methylation determination using magnetic bead-based enrichment and enzymatic amplification

Abstract

Alterations of global DNA methylation levels have been depicted as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for cancer progression. There exists an urgent need for detection of genomic DNA methylation. In this paper, we suggested an assay for selective quantifying of global DNA methylation, which incorporates immunorecognition and enrichment of methylated DNA by magnetic beads modified with methylation specific antibody (5-mC). Subsequently, the captured DNA was labeled with glucose oxidase-conjugated DNA antibody which serves for electrochemical enzymatic amplification to determine the global methylation. We believe this work offers a promising option to detect DNA methylation in both academic and clinical settings.