HBV-Testing: HKUST-1-Modified Electrochemical Immunosensor for Point-of-Care Testing of Hepatitis B

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2019 that over 250 million people were infected with chronic Hepatitis B, and 1.5 million new infections occur yearly. Early diagnosis and viral hepatitis mapping are effective strategies to minimize the impact and slow the spread of infection, requiring rapid, real-time, affordable, and accurate point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tools. Herein, we present HBV-Test, a POC device-based electrochemical immunoassay consisting of a compact portable potentiostat reader and a biosensor chip for detecting hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The sensor chip was prepared using a copper-based metal-organic framework (MOF) (HKUST-1) decorated on a carbon electrode. The HKUST-1 serves as an immobilization matrix for antibodies and provides high electrochemical catalytic activity with a remarkable active surface area of 485 m2/g. The HBV test can perform sensing measurement within five minutes using the differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technique, detecting HBsAg in the range of 0.01–70 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.87 pg/mL. Interestingly, the HBV test also displays good sensing performance in clinical samples of human blood serum with a semiquantitative approach. HBV test can distinguish positive and negative Hepatitis B samples with 90% accuracy and 84% sensitivity. These results suggest that this HBV test is a promising POC device for rapid screening and mapping purposes.