Targeted isolation and analysis of single tumor cells with aptamer-encoded microwell array on microfluidic device.

Abstract

Microfluidic-based single cells analysis has been of great interest in recent years, promising disease diagnosis and personalized medicine. Current technologies are challenging in bioselectively isolating specific single cells from complex matrices. Herein, a novel microfluidic platform integrated with cell-recognizable aptamer-encoded microwells was specifically developed to isolate single tumor cells with satisfied single-cell occupancy and unique bioselectivity. In this work, the designed microwell-structures enable us to encourage strong 3D local topographic interactions of the target cell surface with biomolecules and regulate the single-cell resolution. Under the optimized size of microwells, the single-cell occupancy was significantly enhanced from 0.5% to 88.2% through the introduction of the aptamer. Analysis of the target cells was directly performed in short time periods (<5.0 min) with small volumes (4.5 μL). Importantly, such an aptamer-enabled microfluidic device shows an excellent selectivity for target single cells isolation compared with three control cells. Subsequently, targeted isolation and analysis of single tumor cells were demonstrated by using artificial complex cell samples at simulated conditions, and various cellular carboxylesterases were studied by time-course measurements of cellular fluorescence kinetics at individual-cell level. Thus, our technique will open up a new opportunity in single-cell level-based disease diagnosis and personalize medicine screening.

• Authors: Qiushui Chen, Jing Wu, Yandong Zhang, Zhen Lin, Jin-Ming Lin
• Journal: Lab on a chip (Lab Chip) Vol. 12 Issue 24 Pg. 5180-5 (Dec 21 2012) ISSN: 1473-0189 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 23108418 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Aptamers, Nucleotide

Topics

• Aptamers, Nucleotide (metabolism)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Separation (instrumentation)
• Equipment Design
• Humans
• Kinetics
• Microfluidic Analytical Techniques (instrumentation)
• Single-Cell Analysis (instrumentation)