Beyond Metabolites: A Wearable Differential Biointerface Integrating Antibody and Aptamer Probes for the Real-Time Tracking of Proteins In Vivo

Abstract

Continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers could transform the management of acute and chronic diseases. Despite tremendous potential, wearable health monitors have remained largely limited to metabolites and small molecules. A key challenge is the limited availability of biointerfaces that reversibly track low-abundance proteins in vivo without user intervention. Here, we present the Differential Aptalyzer, a minimally invasive hydrogel microneedle platform for continuous monitoring of proteins in skin interstitial fluid. The platform combines high-affinity antibodies for selective target capture with aptamers for reversible electrochemical signal transduction. When integrated into a differential electrochemical chip and pulse-assisted sensor regeneration, this approach enables continuous monitoring of proteins in a wearable format. Using cardiac troponin I (cTnI) as a clinically-relevant model analyte, Differential Aptalyzer offers a broad dynamic range (0.003-0.640 ng/mL) and strong specificity against interfering proteins. Importantly, this platform reliably tracks both rising and falling exogenous cTnI levels injected into healthy mice, as well as endogenously elevated cTnI in a double-knockout mouse model of coronary artery disease, demonstrating its capability in continuous protein monitoring and identifying coronary artery disease cohorts.