(245e) Nanopore Based Highly Sensitive and Accurate Detection of HIV

Nanopore Based High Performance Point-of-Care Biosensor
for Acute HIV Detection

Xiaojun Wei, Chang Liu

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of acquired
immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS). There are over 1.8 million infections HIV
occur annually worldwide, and 30%¨C50% are attributed to recently infected
individuals that are unaware of their disease state. Rapid diagnosis of acute
HIV (within 3 weeks of infection) may reduce new cases by 10%¨C25%. The
fourth-generation rapid diagnostic test for HIV is currently employed worldwide
as the frontline screening test. This Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
based test is designed to detect HIV-1 p24 antigen in addition to HIV
antibodies to achieve early detection. However, several recent field tests have
indicated unacceptably low diagnostic sensitivity (0%) of acute HIV-1.

Herein, a nanopore biosensing platform with single-molecule
level sensing and analysis capacity has been developed to address the unmet
need for rapid and accurate diagnosis of acute HIV to reduce transmission. In our
approach, p24 antigens isolated from plasma samples were cleaved into several
specific peptide sequences, which can be recognized and quantified by their signature
signals during translocation through the nanopore. A portable QuantiPep-HIV prototype suitable for point-of-care
settings was developed and tested with serum samples from HIV-infected and
uninfected individuals to demonstrate the feasibility and to evaluate the
diagnostic performance. Our results showed that QuantiPep-HIV can improve
the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of acute HIV.

Figure. Schematic diagram for detecting peptide
fragments from p24 antigens by nanopore