Detection of C-reactive protein on an integrated microfluidic system by utilizing field-effect transistors and aptamers

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) cause more than 17 × 10⁶ deaths worldwide on a yearly basis. Early diagnosis of CVDs is therefore of great need. The C-reactive protein (CRP) is an important biomarker for analyzing the risks of CVDs. In this work, CRP-specific aptamers with high sensitivity and specificity and fieldeffect- transistor (FET) devices were used to recognize and detect CRP by using an integrated microfluidic system automatically while consuming less volumes of reagents and samples (about 5 μm). In order to package the FET device into the microfluidic chip, a new method to prevent liquid leakage was proposed. Sensitive detection of CRP has been demonstrated on the developed microfluidic system. It is the first time that aptamer-FET assays could be realized on an integrated microfluidic system. Experimental results showed that the aptamer-FET assay was capable of detecting CRP with concentrations ranging from 0.625 mg/l to 10.000 mg/l, which may be promising for early diagnosis of CVDs.