Early diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is important for controlling virus spread and effective treatment. Additionally, quantification of viral load is increasingly important to monitor treatment effectiveness. Most HIV diagnostics that can quantify viral load are laboratory-based, complex, and require trained personnel and expensive instrumentation, making them difficult to use in low resource settings. Here, we designed a novel “cap-and-release” method that uses mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and HIV capsid p24 antigen. Fluorescent dyes were loaded into MSNs and capped with anti-p24 antibody conjugated gold nanoparticles. Introduction of p24 antigen results in the opening of the “cap,” releasing the fluorescent dyes, which was rapidly detected using a fluorometer. The limit of detection was determined to be 66 nM. To lower the limit of detection, cysteine was encapsulated inside the pores, and the MSNs were capped with an anti-p24 antibody. The introduction of p24 antigen resulted in cysteine release, which activated caged papain. The uncaged papain was reacted with its substrate, resulting in amplification and a 10-fold increase in the limit of detection. The strategy, results and discussion towards a simple “add, mix and measure” method to detect HIV at the point of care will focus on the presentation.

HIV p24 detection and quantification with mesoporous silica nanoparticles

ACS Fall 2021

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