Hepatitis C is a disease caused by HCV infection. It is characterized by liver inflammation, and it have been one of the largest viral epidemics in human. Currently, the diagnosis and treatment of the disease has a high cost for the health systems, being the main cause of liver transplantation worldwide. For this reason, it is encouraged the development of diagnostics for detection in the early stages of infection, which may aid in the treatment and even cure of the disease. Immunosensors based on amperometric detection methods have been prominent in the diagnostic area due to their characteristics of greater stability and sensitivity, and a low manufacturing and miniaturization cost. This work presents the development of a miniaturized system with amperometric immunosensors for the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV). The miniaturized system developed presents a wireless communication for mobile devices and a potentiostat module controlled by a microcontroller, responsible to acquire the amperometric signals from the immunochemical reactions between antigen-antibody. The amperometric sensors developed were manufactured by printed circuit board (PCB’s) and modified by the electroplating technique. These amperometric sensors were functionalized with cystamine and glutaraldehyde to make the covalent bind with anti-HCV for the application in the immunochemical reactions. Experimental results showed a positive HCV detection in human serum where the limit of detection was relatively low, in the order of 10ng.uL<sup>-1</sup> of anti-HCV IgG antibodies. The portability of the developed system aligned with the low-cost production of the amperometric sensors offers excellent prospects for promising application in clinical diagnoses area, and may provide a more specific control for the treatment of the disease.

Miniaturized wireless system for hepatitis C detection

2019 Spring National Meeting

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