Test for telomerase activity - Gold nanoparticle based telomerase activity assay Patent Title: A NANOPARTICLE-BASED TELOMERASE ASSAY

The invention relates to methods for producing gold nanoparticles functionalised with a telomerase substrate, or a linker nucleic acid having a region complementary to a nucleic acid comprising a telomerase substrate, for use in detecting telomerase activity. Functionalised gold nanoparticle solutions and functionalised gold nanoparticles obtained using the method are also provided for. The invention further relates to a functionalised gold nanoparticle complex, comprising gold nanoparticles coupled to a linker nucleic acid which is hybridised to a nucleic acid comprising a telomerase substrate.

Telomerase assays using the functionalised gold nanoparticles or functionalised gold nanoparticle complexes of the invention and kits for detecting telomerase activity in a cell, comprising the functionalised gold nanoparticles or functionalised gold nanoparticle complexes of the invention are also provided for. Current telomerase activity detection methods, such as qPCR-based TRAP assays, are prone to impurities, false positives, and are expensive and time-consuming, while direct detection methods using radioactive isotopes are inefficient and sensitive to noise.
The development of gold nanoparticles functionalised with thiolated nucleic acids, specifically telomerase substrates or linker nucleic acids, which change color in response to telomerase activity, allowing for a colorimetric detection of telomerase activity without the need for radioactive isotopes or extensive purification steps.