Fluorescence polarization-based rapid detection system for salivary biomarkers using modified DNA aptamers containing base-appended bases.

The field of care testing toward the analysis of blood and saliva, lacks nowadays simple test techniques for biomarkers. In this study, we have developed a novel nucleobase analog, Ugu, which is an uracil derivative bearing a guanine base at the 5-position. Moreover, we attempted the development of aptamers that can bind to secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), which has been examined as a stress marker in human saliva. It was observed that the acquired aptamer binds strongly and selec-tively to the SIgA dimer (Kd = 13.6 nM) without binding to the IgG and IgA monomers of human serum. Reduction of the aptamer length (41 mer) successfully improved fourfold the binding affinity (Kd = 3.7 nM), compared to the original, longer aptamer (78 mer). Furthermore, the development of a simple detection system for human saliva samples by fluorescence polarization was investigated, using the reported human salivary α-amylase (sAA) and the SIgA-binding aptamer. Compari-son of the present method with conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques highlighted a significant Pearson's correlation of 0.94 and 0.83 when targeting sAA and SIgA, respectively. It is thus strongly suggested that a new simple test of stress markers in human saliva can be quantified quickly without bound/free (B/F) separation.