Preparation and characterization of Au/Nipc/anti-p53/bsa electrode for application as a p53 antigen sensor

While the tumor suppressor protein p53 regulates the cell cycle to prevent cell damage, it also triggers apoptosis and prevents cancer. These inhibitory functions may disappear once the p53 gene is mutated. Under these circumstances, the detection of p53 protein concentrations can have significant clinical applications. In this study, nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc) was coated on a gold electrode to produce a modified Au/NiPc electrode. p53 antibodies were bonded to the Au/NiPc electrode by the Ni⁺² ion in NiPc, which can be self-assembled with the imidazole group of the p53 protein. The Au/NiPc/anti-p53 electrode was subsequently dripped with a buffer solution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to form the Au/NiPc/anti-p53/BSA electrode, which was used for the detection of p53 antigen under 10 mM potassium ferricyanide/potassium ferrocyanide (K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ ) solution by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry analyses. The linear detection range and the sensitivity for the p53 antigen were 0.1–500 pg/mL and 60.65 µA/Log (pg/mL)-cm², respectively, with a detection time of 90–150 s. In addition, Au/NiPc/anti-p53 (100 ng/mL)/BSA electrodes were tested for specificity using glucose, bovine serum albumin, histidine, ascorbic acid, uric acid, prostate-specific antigen, human serum albumin, and human immunoglobulin G. All p-values were <0.0005, indicating an outstanding specificity.