Immunoengineered magnetic-quantum dot nanobead system for the isolation and detection of circulating tumor cells

• Published in: Journal of nanobiotechnology Vol. 19; no. 1; p. 116
• Main Authors: Zhang, Pengfei, Draz, Mohamed S, Xiong, Anwen, Yan, Wannian, Han, Huanxing, Chen, Wansheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 23.04.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Antibodies; Blood; Blood levels; Care and treatment; Cell culture; Circulating tumor cells; Efficiency; FDA approval; Fluorescence; Fluorescent magnetic nanobeads; Health aspects; Immunocytochemistry; Lung cancer; Magnetic materials; Magnetic nanoparticle; Metastasis; Nanoparticles; Peripheral blood; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymers; Quantum dots; Reverse transcription; Simultaneous capture and detection; Tumor cells; Tumors; China; United States > US; Magnetic nanoparticle; Simultaneous capture and detection; Circulating tumor cells; Fluorescent magnetic nanobeads; Quantum dots
• ISSN: 1477-3155; 1477-3155
• DOI: 10.1186/s12951-021-00860-1

Highly efficient capture and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) remain elusive mainly because of their extremely low concentration in patients' peripheral blood. We present an approach for the simultaneous capturing, isolation, and detection of CTCs using an immuno-fluorescent magnetic nanobead system (iFMNS) coated with a monoclonal anti-EpCAM antibody. The developed antibody nanobead system allows magnetic isolation and fluorescent-based quantification of CTCs. The expression of EpCAM on the surface of captured CTCs could be directly visualized without additional immune-fluorescent labeling. Our approach is shown to result in a 70-95% capture efficiency of CTCs, and 95% of the captured cells remain viable. Using our approach, the isolated cells could be directly used for culture, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunocytochemistry (ICC) identification. We applied iFMNS for testing CTCs in peripheral blood samples from a lung cancer patient. It is suggested that our iFMNS approach would be a promising tool for CTCs enrichment and detection in one step.