Novel sensitive immunosensor for the selective detection of Engrailed 2 urinary prostate cancer biomarker

Engrailed 2 (EN2) is a homeodomain-containing transcription factor expressed in prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines and is secreted into the urines. It is nowadays considered as a promising non-invasive biomarker for PCa early diagnosis. Herein, we report the design of an electrochemical immunosensor for EN2 detection. The biosensor fabrication involved a covalent immobilization of anti-EN2 antibodies onto a poly para amino benzoic acid (PABA) film electropolymerized on a gold electrode. Square wave voltammetry was investigated for EN2 detection in a phosphate buffer solution in a concentration range of 10-5 ng/mL to 1 μg/mL. The limit of detection of the designed sensor was equal to 10-5 ng/mL and the sensitivity was of order of (29 ± 2) μL/ng. The dissociation constant Kd of the "complex" EN2/anti-EN2, estimated from a Hill model, was of order of (0.9 ± 0.2) fM. Experimental results revealed that the immunosensor enabled selective detection of EN2 in a mixture of three proteins which can be found in men' urine: human serum albumin (HSA), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and immunoglobulin G (IgG). Tests in artificial urine, with an ionic strength of 0.18 M, have been done and results were found comparable to those obtained in PBS (0.16 M). These encouraging results show a potentially promising future for the development of an electrochemical biosensor for robust and accurate urinary biomarkers detection.