Nanoscale materials have been employed in the past 2 decades in applications such as biosensing, therapeutics and medical diagnostics due to their beneficial optoelectronic properties. In recent years, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have gained attention due to their higher plasmon excitation efficiency than gold nanoparticles, as proved by sharper and stronger plasmon resonance peaks. The current work is focused on utilizing self-assembled DNA-AgNPs on microdevices for the detection of gynecological cancers. Human papilloma virus (HPV) mostly spreads through sexual transmittance and can cause various gynecological cancers, including cervical, ovarian and endometrial cancers. In particular, oncogene E7 from the HPV strain 16 (HPV-16 E7) is responsible for causing these cancers. In this research, the target sequence of HPV-16 E7 was detected by an AgNP-conjugated capture probe on a dielectrode sensor. The detection limit was in the range between 10 and 100 aM (by 3σ estimation). The sensitivity of the AgNP-conjugated probe was 10 aM and similar to the sensitivity of gold nanoparticle conjugation sensors, and the mismatched control DNA failed to detect the target, proving selective HPV detection. Morphological assessments on the AgNPs and the sensing surfaces by high-resolution microscopy revealed the surface arrangement. This sensing platform can be expanded to develop sensors for the detection various clinically relevant targets.

纳米级材料由于其有益的光电特性，在过去 20 年中已被应用于生物传感、治疗和医学诊断等领域。近年来，银纳米颗粒（AgNPs）因其比金纳米颗粒更高的等离激元激发效率而受到关注，更尖锐、更强的等离激元共振峰证明了这一点。目前的工作重点是利用微型设备上的自组装 DNA-AgNP 来检测妇科癌症。人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）主要通过性传播，可引起多种妇科癌症，包括宫颈癌、卵巢癌和子宫内膜癌。特别是，来自 HPV 16 株 (HPV-16 E7) 的癌基因 E7 是导致这些癌症的原因。在这项研究中，HPV-16 E7 的目标序列通过双电极传感器上的 AgNP 偶联捕获探针进行检测。检测限在 10 至 100 aM 之间（通过 3σ 估计）。 AgNP 缀合探针的灵敏度为 10 aM，与金纳米粒子缀合传感器的灵敏度相似，并且不匹配的对照 DNA 未能检测到目标，证明了 HPV 的选择性检测。通过高分辨率显微镜对 AgNP 和传感表面进行形态学评估揭示了表面排列。该传感平台可以扩展以开发用于检测各种临床相关目标的传感器。