DNAzyme-functionalized Au nanoparticles for the amplified detection of DNA or telomerase activity

DNAzyme-functionalized Au-NPs act as catalytic labels for the amplified detection of DNA and telomerase activity on nucleic acid-functionalized gold surface. The DNAzyme stimulates, in the presence of hemin, H2O2, and luminol, the generation of chemiluminescence. For DNA analysis, a nucleic acid unit complementary to the analyzed DNA is tethered to the DNAzyme structure associated with the Au-NPs. For telomerase activity, a nucleic acid complementary to the telomer repeat units generated on the surface is tethered to the DNAzyme structure associated with the Au-NPs. The detection limit for the detection of DNA is 1 x 10(-10) M. The method enables the detection of telomerase activity originating from 1000 HeLa cells.