The detection of hepatitis c virus core antigen using afm chips with immobolized aptamers

•AFM chip with immobilized aptamers can be used as an affinity agent.•AFM can be used for detection of hepatitis C protein marker (HCVcoreAg).•HCVcoreAg can be detected in solutions with concentrations from 10−10 to 10−13М. In the present study, the possibility of hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCVcoreAg) detection in buffer solution, using atomic force microscope chip (AFM-chip) with immobilized aptamers, has been demonstrated. The target protein was detected in 1mL of solution at concentrations from 10−10М to 10−13М. The registration of aptamer/antigen complexes on the chip surface was carried out by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The further mass-spectrometric (MS) identification of AFM-registered objects on the chip surface allowed reliable identification of HCVcoreAg target protein in the complexes. Aptamers, which were designed for therapeutic purposes, have been shown to be effective in HCVcoreAg detection as probe molecules.