Anti-fouling portable electrochemical device for simultaneous detection of CEA and CA15-3 in serum and nipple discharge

Early diagnosis of breast cancer is crucial for enhancing patient survival rates. This study developed a portable electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3). Glutaraldehyde cross-linked denatured bovine serum albumin and polydopamine (PDA) was used as an anti-fouling electrochemical sensor interface for screen-printed electrode (SPE). Etched UiO-66-d was employed to adsorb methylene blue and neutral red dyes, followed by modification with phenylboronic acid (PBA) to produce two redox tags. Aptamer DNA and PBA were used to recognize target CEA and CA15-3 to form sandwich structures. To enhance the Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) performance, a portable dual-channel electrochemical detection device was developed integrated with dual-channel SPE for simultaneous detection of CEA and CA15-3. The detection limits for CEA and CA15-3 were determined to be 0.35 pg/mL and 0.0032 U/mL, respectively. From analyzing both serum and nipple discharge samples, it indicates that using nipple discharge as the detection object can effectively differentiate atypical ductal hyperplasia (a pre-breast cancer lesion) from benign hyperplasia, which holds significant implications for early breast cancer diagnosis.