Surface plasmon resonance biosensor for the accurate and sensitive quantification of O-GlcNAc based on cleavage by β-D-N-acetylglucosaminidase.

Abnormal O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) concentrations have been associated with a variety of diseases (e.g., cancer, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, etc.). However, O-GlcNAc detection is complicated, time-consuming and has poor specificity, therefore, the accurate detection of O-GlcNAc is difficult. In this study, an accurate and sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor for O-GlcNAc detection that is based on β-D-N-acetylglucosaminidase (OGA) and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was developed. In this strategy, AuNPs were used to amplify the SPR signal and improve the biosensor's sensitivity; OGA was used to cleave O-GlcNAc from O-GlcNAcylated biomolecules. The interaction between AuNPs labeled wheat germ agglutinin (AuNPs/WGA) and O-GlcNAcylated biomolecules on a modified Au film treated with and without OGA was recorded by SPR. The change of the SPR signal moves linearly with the amount of O-GlcNAc on the Au film and thus could be used for the detection of O-GlcNAc. By recording the difference of the SPR signals, this method can avoid disturbances from other sugars and nonspecific adsorption of AuNPs and thus enable the accurate detection of O-GlcNAc. The accurate detection range of O-GlcNAc was 4.65 × 10-12 to 4.65 × 10-7 M which was obtained by quantifying the amount of a standard O-GlcNAcylated peptide (O-GlcNAc-CREB), and the detection limit is 4.65 × 10-13 M. More importantly, the strategy was successfully used to detect O-GlcNAc in a real α-crystallin protein, cancer cell lysates and blood samples with satisfactory results. The study's results imply that this accurate and sensitive method has the potential to be applied in the early clinical diagnosis of O-GlcNAc-related diseases.