Recent progress in prostate-specific antigen and HIV proteases detection

Abstract

Proteases mediate a wide variety of biological events and have a critical role in the development of many diseases. Protease detection methods can be hindered by the limitation of assay safety, sensitivity, specificity, time constraints and ease of on-site analysis. Notably, the implementation of various detection methods on biosensing platforms translates them into practical biosensing applications. Currently, the detection of prostate cancer and AIDS at the earliest occasion is one of the major research obstacles. Therefore, recent advances focus on the development of portable detection systems toward point-of-care testing. These detection systems should be highly sensitive and specific for the detection of their prognostic biomarkers, such as the prostate-specific antigen and HIV load assay for prostate cancer and AIDS, respectively. These methods will also facilitate decision-making on a treatment regimen.

Keywords::

• acquired immune deficiency syndrome
• biosensors
• human immunodeficiency virus
• nanotechnology
• prostate cancer
• point of care
• protease detection
• prostate-specific antigen

Acknowledgment

Suaifan GARY would like to acknowledge the Deanship of the Scientific Research at The University of Jordan for providing all requested articles utilized in this review.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• • Proteases demonstrate high interest and applications in medical and research fields due to their critical role in human physiological reactions, cellular cycles as well as pathogenic agent’s life.

• • Protease detection has evolved from radioisotopes-based marker to nanotechnology, that is, ‘bionanolabels’.

• • The use of biofunctionalized nanoparticles (NPs) as an alternative class of molecular reporter in assays, over the more traditional fluorescent dyes and radioactive labels increase the sensitivity, selectivity and assay safety profile.

• • Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer in males. Low or high risk of prostate cancer (PCa) can be detected by the analysis of PSA immunological subforms.

• • The high probability of PCa is indicated if the total PSA (T-PSA) concentration is 10 ng/ml or higher and T-PSA assay diagnostic specificity can be improved by examining the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio.

• • AIDS is caused by HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection. The infection markers are based on either the identification of host antibodies (Abs) generated against virus proteins, or by direct detection of the whole virus.

• • A number of RNA viral load assay is approved by the US FDA. But, they are not suitable in resource-limited countries.

• • Point-of care (POC) viral load assay is urgently needed to facilitate decision-making on initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) or identification of virological ART failure.