Engineering of exosome-triggered enzyme-powered DNA motors for highly sensitive fluorescence detection of tumor-derived exosomes

Tumor-derived exosomes containing multiple proteins originating from parent cancer cells have emerged as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional DNA motor-based exosome assay platform for the selective and sensitive detection of exosomes. The DNA motor used gold nanoparticle (GNP) tracks, consisting of fluorescein-labeled substrate strands and aptamer-locked motor strands. Recognition of the target protein on exosomes by its aptamer unlocked the motor strand and triggered the DNA motor process. Powered by restriction endonuclease, the motor strands autonomously walked along the GNP track. Each movement step cleaved one substrate strand and restored one fluorescein molecule. For exosome detection, the proposed method displayed a broad dynamic range acrossing 5 orders of magnitude with the detection limit as low as 8.2 particles/μL in PBS. The method also exhibited good selectivity among different tumor-derived exosomes and performed well in complex biological samples. The capability to profile exosomal surface proteins efficiently endowed our DNA motor great potential for developing a simple and cost-effective device for clinical diagnosis.