Using of the surface plasmon resonance cytosensor for real-time and non-invasive monitoring of cellular effects in living C6 cells induced by PMA

By cell and molecular biology, the traditional life science research has been improved into modern ex-perimental science. Because cell is the basic structural and functional unit of the mysterious life, the study of life phenomena will be ultimately embodied into the study of cell biology. How to acquire a dynamic knowledge of the intricate biomolecular reactivity and process in living cells has become one of the hotspots in recent biological researches. For the complexity of cellular effects,…     

Electrochemical Biosensing in Cancer Diagnostics and Follow‐up

In cancer, screening and early detection are critical for the success of the patient's treatment and to increase the survival rate. The development of analytical tools for non‐invasive detection, through the analysis of cancer biomarkers, is imperative for disease diagnosis, treatment and follow‐up. Tumour biomarkers refer to substances or processes that, in clinical settings, are indicative of the presence of cancer in the body. These biomarkers can be detected using biosensors, that, because of their fast, accurate and point of care applicability, are prominent alternatives to the traditional methods. Moreover, the constant innovations in the biosensing field improve the determination of normal and/or elevated levels of tumour biomarkers in patients’ biological fluids (such as serum, plasma, whole blood, urine, etc.). Although several biomarkers (DNA, RNA, proteins, cells) are known, the detection of proteins and circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are the most commonly reported due to their approval as tumour biomarkers by the specialized entities and commonly accepted for diagnosis by medical and clinical teams. Therefore, electrochemical immunosensors and cytosensors are vastly described in this review, because of their fast, simple and accurate detection, the low sample volumes required, and the excellent limits of detection obtained. The biosensing strategies reported for the six most commonly diagnosed cancers (lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, liver and stomach) are summarized and the distinct phases of the sensors’ constructions (surface modification, antibody immobilization, immunochemical interactions, detection approach) and applications are discussed.     

Hybrid Nanobioengineered Nanomaterial-Based Electrochemical Biosensors

Nanoengineering biosensors have become more precise and sophisticated, raising the demand for highly sensitive architectures to monitor target analytes at extremely low concentrations often required, for example, for biomedical applications. We review recent advances in functional nanomaterials, mainly based on novel organic-inorganic hybrids with enhanced electro-physicochemical properties toward fulfilling this need. In this context, this review classifies some recently engineered organic-inorganic metallic-, silicon-, carbonaceous-, and polymeric-nanomaterials and describes their structural properties and features when incorporated into biosensing systems. It further shows the latest advances in ultrasensitive electrochemical biosensors engineered from such innovative nanomaterials highlighting their advantages concerning the concomitant constituents acting alone, fulfilling the gap from other reviews in the literature. Finally, it mentioned the limitations and opportunities of hybrid nanomaterials from the point of view of current nanotechnology and future considerations for advancing their use in enhanced electrochemical platforms.     

A Simple Electrochemical Aptamer Cytosensor for Direct Detection of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia K562 Cells

A simple and rapid electrochemical aptamer cytosensor has been developed for direct detection of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) K562 cells based on a specific aptamer and a biotin conjugated concanavalin A (bio‐ConA) detection probe. The K562 cell could be specifically recognized by T2‐KK1B10 capture aptamer pre‐immobilized on gold modified electrode surface. Then, bio‐ConA was added in the reaction to identify K562 cell surface mannose, resulting in an aptamer‐K562 cell‐bio‐ConA sandwich complex. Finally, streptavidin conjugated alkaline phosphatase (ST‐ALP) combined with the bio‐ConA to catalyze α‐naphthyl (α‐NP) phosphate to form α‐naphthol which is highly electroactive at an operating voltage of 180 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl). Under optimum conditions, the DPV signals were proportional to the logarithm of K562 cell from 1×10² to 1×10⁷ cells mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 79 cells mL⁻¹. The cytosensor also exhibited high selectivity, stability and reproducibility. When applied to detect K562 cells in human blood samples, recoveries between 79.6 %–93.3 % were obtained, indicating the developed biosensor would be a potential alternative tool for CML K562 cell detection in real biological samples.     

A repeatable assembling and disassembling electrochemical aptamer cytosensor for ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of human liver cancer cells

In this work, a repeatable assembling and disassembling electrochemical aptamer cytosensor was proposed for the sensitive detection of human liver hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) based on a dual recognition and signal amplification strategy. A high-affinity thiolated TLS11a aptamer, covalently attached to a gold electrode through Au–thiol interactions, was adopted to recognize and capture the target HepG2 cells. Meanwhile, the G-quadruplex/hemin/aptamer and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) modified gold nanoparticles (G-quadruplex/hemin/aptamer–AuNPs–HRP) nanoprobe was designed. It could be used for electrochemical cytosensing with specific recognition and enzymatic signal amplification of HRP and G-quadruplex/hemin HRP-mimicking DNAzyme. With the nanoprobes as recognizing probes, the HepG2 cancer cells were captured to fabricate an aptamer-cell-nanoprobes sandwich-like superstructure on a gold electrode surface. The proposed electrochemical cytosensor delivered a wide detection range from 1 × 10² to 1 × 10⁷ cells mL⁻¹ and high sensitivity with a low detection limit of 30 cells mL⁻¹. Furthermore, after the electrochemical detection, the activation potential of −0.9 to −1.7 V was performed to break Au–thiol bond and regenerate a bare gold electrode surface, while maintaining the good characteristic of being used repeatedly. The changes of gold electrode behavior after assembling and desorption processes were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry techniques. These results indicate that the cytosensor has great potential in disease diagnostic of cancers and opens new insight into the reusable gold electrode with repeatable assembling and disassembling in the electrochemical sensing.