MULTI-WALL CARBON NANOTUBE-BASED DNA NANOSENSOR FOR DETERMINING MITOXANTRONE-DNA INTERACTION IN-VITRO

The present study involves the development of a carbon nanotube based DNA nanosensor to determine the toxicological behavior of mitoxantrone (MTX). Mitoxantrone intercalates with DNA and produces a MTX-DNA adduct, resulting in the blockade of protein synthesis and excessive production of free radicals in the myocardium which eventually leads to cardiac toxicity. So, our work employs a DNA nanosensor to investigate the interaction of MTX with DNA. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were functionalized with carboxyl group and were used for immobilization of DNA to construct the DNA nanosensor. The DNA nanosensor was immersed in MTX solution to monitor MTX-DNA interaction with respect to time and alter the resistance of the nanosensor. It was observed that MTX-DNA interaction is fast initially and as time elapses, the change in interaction gets slow due to formation of MTX-DNA adduct. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found as 150 (ng/mL) and 456 (ng/mL), respectively, for DNA nanosensor. This study suggests that the potentiometric nanosensor allows real-time monitoring of the drug-DNA interaction changes by measuring the potential at DNA/sensor interface which can prove to be an important tool in drug discovery pipelines and molecular toxicology.