A Multifunctional Platinum Nanoreactor for Point-of-Care Metabolic Analysis

Metabolic analysis features ongoing biological pathways and can be more distal over proteomic/genomic approaches for in vitro diagnostics (IVD). However, point-of-care (POC) metabolic analysis needs designed materials to detect target biomarkers of low concentration in complex biosystems. Herein, we report the construction of a multifunctional platinum nanoreactor intended for POC metabolic analysis for visual detection and mass spectrometry (MS) fingerprinting. Controlled core-shell structured Fe3O4@SiO2@Pt particles were designed for visual detection of metabolic biomarkers, the catalytic mechanism was investigated, and direct laser desorption/ionization MS fingerprinting of the native serum was performed. The nanoreactor platform has been successfully applied to diagnose pancreatic cancer patients as compared with healthy individuals with sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 92%, with a panel of five biomarkers identified. Our work demonstrates a novel platform for IVD initiating application-driven design of POC analysis with tailored characteristics.