Preparation of a Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Aptasensor for Measuring Epirubicin Based on a Gold Electrode Boosted with Carbon Nano-Onions and MB

Epirubicin is prescribed as an essential drug for treating breast, prostate, uterine, and gastrointestinal cancers. It has many side effects, such as heart failure, mouth inflammation, abdominal pain, fever, and shortness of breath. Its measurement is necessary by straightforward and cheap methods. The application of aptamer-based electrochemical sensors is accounted as a selective option for measuring different compounds. In this work, a thiol-modified aptamer was self-assembled on the surface of the gold electrode (AuE) boosted with carbon nano-onions (CNOs), and coupled with methylene blue (MB) as an electroactive tracker to achieve a sensitive and selective aptasensor. In the absence of the epirubicin, CNOs binds to the aptamer through a π-π interaction enhancing the MB electrochemical signal. When epirubicin binds to the aptamer, the adsorption of CNOs and MB to the aptamer is not well established, so the electrochemical signal is reduced, consequently, the epirubicin value can be measured. The prepared aptasensor demonstrated an excellent sensitivity with a curve slope of 0.36 μI/nM, and 3 nM limit of detection in the linear concentration range of 1–75 nM. The prepared aptasensor was accurately capable of measuring epirubicin in blood serum samples.