Distinct Rayleigh Scattering from Hot Spot Mutant p53 Proteins Reveals Cancer Cells

The scattering of light redirects and resonances when an electromagnetic wave interacts with electrons orbits in the hot spot core protein and oscillated electron of the gold nanoparticles (AuNP). This report demonstrates convincingly that resonant Rayleigh scattering generated from hot spot mutant p53 proteins is correspondence to cancer cells. Hot spot mutants have unique local electron density changes that affect specificity of DNA binding affinity compared with wild types. Rayleigh scattering changes introduced by hot‐spot mutations were monitored by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) shift changes. The LSPR λ_max shift for hot‐spot mutants ranged from 1.7 to 4.2 nm for mouse samples and from 0.64 nm to 2.66 nm for human samples, compared to 9.6 nm and 15 nm for wild type and mouse and human proteins, respectively with a detection sensitivity of p53 concentration at 17.9 nM. It is interesting that hot‐spot mutants, which affect only interaction with DNA, launches affinitive changes as considerable as wild types. These changes propose that hot‐spot mutants p53 proteins can be easily detected by local electron density alterations that disturbs the specificity of DNA binding of p53 core domain on the surface of the DNA probed‐nanoplasmonic sensor.