Rapid and sensitive fluorescent detection of HIV RNA using Iron-Based metal organic frameworks

The early detection of HIV is crucial for controlling the virus’s spread and effectively managing the disease. Although current detection methods, such as PCR and ELISA, are considerably sensitive, they are often time-consuming and expensive, which limits their use in point-of-care applications. Recently, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have attracted high interest as biosensors for the detection of viruses given their unique structure and chemical properties. Herein, we investigate the use of MIL-100(Fe) as a biosensing system for the fluorescent detection of HIV RNA sequences. The MOF is characterized to explore its structural and morphological properties using XRD, FT-IR, BET, TGA, and FE-SEM. The fluorescence quenching ability of MIL-100(Fe) toward P-DNA was first investigated. The experimental results revealed a high quenching efficiency of 98.02 % through mechanisms like π-π stacking and electron transfer. The experiments indicated a static quenching process, where PET exhibited greater effect over FRET in the quenching mechanism. The system also exhibited excellent sensitivity, with an ultra-low LOD of 5.87 pM and an incubation time of 30 min. Furthermore, the selectivity of the biosensor was confirmed using RNA sequences with one-base and two-base mismatches. These results demonstrate the capability of MIL-100(Fe) as a fast and highly sensitive biosensor for HIV RNA detection, offering promise for future point-of-care applications. In sum, our newly developed biosensor is a potential diagnostic tool for the reliable and accurate detection of HIV, and it may be implicated in the prevention of HIV infection and enhanced treatment/management options for HIV infected individuals and AIDS patients.