Drug functionalized organic electromechanical transistor for rapid and sensitive detection of C-reactive protein

  • Biosens Bioelectron. 2025 Nov 15:288:117807. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.117807.
Chenyang Li  1 ,  Chaoyi Yan  1 ,  Siyu Di  1 ,  Yu Xiao  2 ,  Xuefeng Zhang  1 ,  Ziling Jiang  1 ,  Guo Liu  1 ,  Runjie Zhang  1 ,  Deliu Zeng  1 ,  Yang Liu  3 ,  Ye Zou  4 ,  Jia Li  5 ,  Fengjiao Zhang  6
Affiliations
  • 1. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
  • 2. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; Binzhou Institute of Technology, Binzhou, 256606, Shandong, China.
  • 3. West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
  • 4. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
  • 5. Department of Orthopedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China; National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing, 100853, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 6. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; Binzhou Institute of Technology, Binzhou, 256606, Shandong, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 40712486 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.117807
Abstract

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a critical biomarker for inflammation and postoperative recovery monitoring. Organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) plays a key role in CRP detection, however, with a limited sensitivity in physiological environment due to inefficient charge transfer within the Debye length. Here, we introduce rosuvastatin (RSV) drug as a novel recognition element for CRP detection in OECT biosensors. The grafted RSV molecules can inherently interact with CRP through electrostatic bonding interaction, contributing to a direct charge transfer between the captured CRP and the device within the Debye length limitation. Following this, the OECT biosensor exhibits a broad range (10-10 to 10-4 g/mL) for CRP quantification, with a short response time of 2 min. Moreover, the devices can realize selective CRP recognition in serum, demonstrating the great potential of drug receptors in electronic biosensor functionalization. This strategy paves a new way for developing ultrasensitive OECT biosensors towards accurate and reliable in-situ biomarker monitoring for convenient disease diagnose.

Keywords
Biosensor; C-reactive protein detection; Organic electrochemical transistor; Rosuvastatin.
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