Facile and Affordable Design of MXene-Co₃O₄-Based Nanocomposites for Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide in Cancer Cells: Toward Portable Tool for Cancer Management

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a primary reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can act as a chemical signal in developing and progressing serious and life-threatening diseases like cancer. Due to the stressful nature of H₂O₂, there is an urgent need to develop sensitive analytical approaches to be applied to various biological matrices. Herein, a portable point-of-care electrochemical system based on MXene-Co₃O₄ nanocomposites to detect H₂O₂ in different cancer cell-lines is presented. The developed sensor is affordable, disposable, and highly selective for H₂O₂ detection. This approach achieves a dynamic linear range of 75 µm with a LOD of 0.5 µm and a LOQ of 1.6 µm. To improve the practical application, the level of ROS is evaluated both in cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and DU145, respectively, to breast and prostate cancers, and in healthy HaCat cells. Moreover, the same cancer cells are treated with transforming growth factor-β1, and MXene-Co₃O₄ modified strip is capable to monitorROS variation. The results are satisfactory compared with the cellular ROS fluorescent assay based on DCFH/DCFH-DA. These results open new perspectives for real-time monitoring of cancer progression and the efficacy of the therapy.