Lectin biochips and biosensors are used to detect and study the protein glycosylation. Glycosylation changes are accompanied by changes in physiological state, which may be associated with certain types of diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc. In recent years, this issue has been attracting more and more scientists and enormous advances have been achieved in this field. This work is focused on the use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in combination with lectin biosensors and biochips enabling tracking glycosylation and its changes. SPR is commonly used to detect proteins and to study the protein-protein and protein-drug interactions. Lectin SPR biochips additionally allow us to detect the glycan (glycoprotein)-lectin (protein) interactions. The great advantage of SPR, as compared to most other methods used for this purpose, is the possibility of real-time and label-free measurements. On the other hand, the measurement of large number of samples is time consuming. This is possible to overcome by using the SPR imaging (SPRi) techniques allowing simultaneous measurement of several samples. Practical applications of the lectin SPR biosensors and biochips are not only in biology and biomedicine research and diagnosis of diseases and detection of pathogenic microorganisms, but also in environmental monitoring, food control and even in the military for the detection of substances based on glycoprotein toxins.
This review deals with the main characteristics of modern nanostructures like Au nanoparticles or C nanotubes and the great potential of their application in biosensor manufacture. The principles of biosensing are also mentioned, focusing on the label-free electrochemical detection using self-assembled monolayers on Au surfaces. This review deals mostly with biosensors for use in clinical chemistry and diagnostics as immunosensors. Application of nanoparticles can improve electrode transduction although antigens and antibodies do not form a redox couple.
This review gives the main characteristics of mostly commercially available lectins, including their specificity and practical aspects. Various methods, often routinely used, are described, including manufacture of lectin-based biosensors. Other laboratory techniques, mostly for biomedical purposes (such as glycocode decoding, detection of pathogens and antibodies) and their applications in early diagnostics using the array formats are also mentioned.
