Figure 7.

Protease sensitive nanoworms probe the presence of tumor tissue in the body. a) Synthetic biomarkers include iron oxide NPs that are conjugated with protease specific peptide substrate and the peptide reporter. b) (I) Synthetic biomarkers are intravenously injected to the patient. (II) Nanoworms accumulate at the tumor site and release reporters through proteolytic cleavage of peptide substrate. (III) A patient’s urine sample is collected. (IV) The urine sample is applied to the multiplex LFA for the diagnosis. c) Detection antibodies are immobilized at the test lines and reporter analyte conjugated Au NPs aggregate at the test lines as the urine sample diffuses across the paper device. Reproduced with permission.^[73] Copyright 2014, National Academy of Science.