Development of citrulline printed and modified nanosensors for diagnosis of some diseases

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease, especially seen in young adults, which is taken formed by the destruction (demyelination) of myelin (around the nerve sheath) that has completed the normal development, found in central nervous system having diffuse lesions and the reason of disease is not known exactly. Central nervous system (CNS) is protected by myelin sheath containing 35 % of different isoforms and isomers of the myelin. The most abundant protein in the myelin sheath is Myelin Basic Protein (MBP). In MS patients, the arginine found in the structure of MBP is converted to citrulline. Therefore, the existence of MS can be determined by performing the determination of citrulline. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is the most common autoimmune disease in the world and our country. The autoantibodies which have been produced against citrullinated structures in RA have long been known and are used for diagnostic purposes. The discovery of anti-cyclic citrullinated protein (anti-CCP) antibodies has been an important stage for RA diagnosis. In this study, citrulline sensitive polymers have been produced by the molecularly imprinting technique on the surface of carbon nanotube (CNT) and gold (Au) for citrulline diagnosis. The binding of citrulline to specific binding sites has been investigated by these modified polymers. On the other hand, it has been investigated if the diagnosis of RA is possible when anti-CCP autoantibodies which are specifically bound to citrullinated structures are interacted with citrulline modified polymer.