Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Nanoscience
Carlos G. Declet Nieves - University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus
Co-Author(s): Jesús Valdez, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L. México Swapnil Bawage, Komal Vig, and Shree R. Singh, Center for NanoBiotechnology Research, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL
Respiratory Syncyitial Virus (RSV) is involved in lower respiratory tract infection and contributes to mortality of children and older adults worldwide. According to the statistics, it is known that in the United States the range of hospitalizations by RSV infections are estimated between 50,000-80,000 infants a year. Also, it is responsible for the death of approximately 500 infants yearly. Knowing that RSV spreads during cold and wet weather, research is conducted in order to decrease the contagion in its outbreak seasons. Today, there are variety of methods to detect RSV, like Direct Fluorescent Antibody (DFA), Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) among others, however, efforts are made to research for an effective and non-expensive technique. In the present study metallic nanoparticles were used for specific and faster detections of RSV. In this study, gold nanoparticles were functionalized with anti-RSV antibody. This was intended for attachment and detection of RSV, as a result of the shifting of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) observed by UV/vis spectroscope. In addition to this, attached FITC to the antibody functionalized gold nanoparticles to detect RSV in infected human epithelial (Hep-2) cells using indirect inmunofluorescence assay. Our results indicate that RSV was detected by LSPR shifting at 500 PFU after one hour incubation. RSV was also detected in Hep-2 cells infected with 100 and 200 PFU/mL RSV with the help of FITC conjugated functionalized gold nanoparticles. In conclusion, we were able to detect RSV using antibody functionalized gold nanoparticles, which can lead to the discovery of a new method of diagnosing RSV.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was supported by NSFREU (DBI-1358923) to Dr. Komal Vig (PI) and by NSFCREST (HRD1241701) to Dr. Shree S. Singh (PI).
Faculty Advisor: Komal Vig,