https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7590-2442
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Robert D Maynard, Personalized Reproductive Hormone Monitoring in Sweat, Clinical Chemistry, Volume 70, Issue 10, October 2024, Pages 1299–1300, https://doi.org/10.1093/clinchem/hvae052
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Estradiol is the primary female sex hormone produced by the ovaries and is of paramount importance to assessing ovarian function. Measuring female hormones on an individualized basis is particularly significant for fertility monitoring where repeat blood draws are traditionally required (1). Quantitative measurement of serum estradiol is commonly performed by immunoassays and LC-MS/MS methods for most clinical applications (2). The use of sweat as a diagnostic body fluid presents an exciting opportunity to explore real-time, noninvasive measurement of a variety of analytes without the need for external specimen collection (3). Despite significant progress in this field, sweat analysis also presents numerous challenges including variable sweat rate, composition and sample matrix, pH, and temperature within and among individuals, in addition to relatively low analyte concentrations in the picomolar (pM) range (4).
A recent article published by Ye et al. details the design, characterization, and on-body clinical trial of a novel wireless wearable nanobiosensor capable of real-time detection and quantification of sub-pM concentrations of estradiol in sweat (5). Inside the sensor, a microfluidic reservoir is formed by 2 opposing surfaces: an aptamer-based biorecognition surface and a detection working electrode that are bridged upon filling of the reservoir with sweat. Estradiol present in the sweat selectively binds to a single-stranded DNA aptamer specific for the hormone’s secondary structure. This binding causes the release of a redox probe that is captured on the opposing working electrode surface, leading to a change in current proportional to estradiol concentration. The design of this particular nanobiosensor overcomes some of the challenges posed by intra- and interindividual sweat variability by integrating simultaneous measurements of skin temperature and pH with real-time sensor calibration. Electronic circuitry contained within the device allows for signal processing and wireless communication to an external source for remote data analysis, including real-time monitoring using a smartphone app.
