A Simple and Highly Sensitive Naked-Eye Analysis of EGFR 19del via CRISPR/Cas12a Triggered No-Nonspecific Nucleic Acid Amplification

The mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 is of great importance for predicting sensitivity to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the development of simple, sensitive, and no-nonspecific amplification platforms for EGFR 19del detection in NSCLC remains a challenge. Herein, we developed a novel, simple, and highly sensitive naked-eye assay utilizing CRISPR/Cas12a-triggered no-nonspecific nucleic acid amplification (NAA) with rolling circle amplification (RCA) as a model for EGFR 19del detection. Typically, circular padlocks are designed to be the trans-cleavage substrate of Cas12a/crRNA and serve as templates for RCA. Since the target EGFR 19del induces robust trans-cleavage activity of the Cas12a/crRNA duplex, the surrounding circular padlocks are cleaved into random short linear fragments that are unable to initiate RCA, resulting in a colorless solution. However, in the absence of EGFR 19del, the inactivated Cas12a enzymes cannot cleave the circular padlocks, and they remain able to serve as templates to initiate RCA to generate long single-stranded DNA to further fold into G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzymes to catalyze the oxidation of 2,2 '-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS2-), generating a color response that is obvious to the naked eye. As expected, this strategy with a detection limit as low as 20 fM exhibited robust selectivity and anti-interference ability. Moreover, this method was applicable for detecting EGFR 19del in real serum samples and showed high consistency with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and sequencing results, providing a promising strategy for the early noninvasive diagnosis and guidance of clinical treatment for cancer.

Automated summary

This study developed a novel naked-eye assay for detecting EGFR 19del mutation in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using CRISPR/Cas12a-triggered nucleic acid amplification (NAA) and rolling circle amplification (RCA) technologies. The assay showed high sensitivity, selectivity, and anti-interference ability, and demonstrated consistency with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and sequencing results, offering a promising strategy for noninvasive diagnosis and treatment guidance of cancer.