Preparation of Notch-4 Receptor Containing Quartz Crystal Microbalance Biosensor for MDA MB 231 Cancer Cell Detection.

Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is a highly sensitive system that is used as a biosensor for biomolecules and cells. Detection and characterization of cancer cells in circulation or biopsy samples is of crucial importance for cancer diagnosis. Here, we introduce approaches for breast cancer cell detection via their surface molecules. The sensor system is based on preliminary coating of QCM chip with polymeric nanoparticles to increase the surface area and allow for the attachment of proteins to the chip surface. This is followed by the attachment of a specific protein in order to functionalize the chip. Breast cancer cells and fibroblast cells as control are cultured and applied to this chip. The functionalized QCM system can detect breast cancer cells with high affinity and selectivity. Here, we present the preparation methods of QCM-based sensors for selective detection of MDA MB 231 cancer cells. Selectivity of QCM-based sensor is carried out in the presence of L929 mouse fibroblast cells.

Microfluidic Systems for Cancer Diagnosis and Applications.

Microfluidic devices have led to novel biological advances through the improvement of micro systems that can mimic and measure. Microsystems easily handle sub-microliter volumes, obviously with guidance presumably through laminated fluid flows. Microfluidic systems have production methods that do not need expert engineering, away from a centralized laboratory, and can implement basic and point of care analysis, and this has attracted attention to their widespread dissemination and adaptation to specific biological issues. The general use of microfluidic tools in clinical settings can be seen in pregnancy tests and diabetic control, but recently microfluidic platforms have become a key novel technology for cancer diagnostics. Cancer is a heterogeneous group of diseases that needs a multimodal paradigm to diagnose, manage, and treat. Using advanced technologies can enable this, providing better diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients. Microfluidic tools have evolved as a promising tool in the field of cancer such as detection of a single cancer cell, liquid biopsy, drug screening modeling angiogenesis, and metastasis detection. This review summarizes the need for the low-abundant blood and serum cancer diagnosis with microfluidic tools and the progress that has been followed to develop integrated microfluidic platforms for this application in the last few years.

Controlled release of doxorubicin from polyethylene glycol functionalized melanin nanoparticles for breast cancer therapy: Part I. Production and drug release performance of the melanin nanoparticles.

In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugated melanin nanoparticles (MNPs) were prepared (PEG-MNPs). A model chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin (DOX), was loaded into the PEG-MNPs with varied concentrations (0.125, 0.250, 0.500 mg/mL). TEM images showed that, DOX-PEG-MNPs are spherical-shaped and 15 ±â€¯2.2 nm in diameter. FTIR spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that MNPs were successfully modified with PEG. The UV-Vis spectroscopy results showed that the drug loading capacity of MNPs was 0.7 mg/ml of DOX in 2 mg/ml of PEG-MNPs. The time course data showed that, the release behavior of DOX from MNPs was primarily diffusion controlled. In vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that MNP and PEG-MNP did not show any toxic effect on mouse fibroblast cells while DOX-PEG-MNP was able to inhibit the proliferation of human breast cancer cells. The results confirm that the application area of MNPs in controlled and prolonged drug release could be extended to the different types of cancer therapeutics.

Quartz crystal microbalance biosensor for label-free MDA MB 231 cancer cell detection via notch-4 receptor.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women with increasing insidance. Breast cancer occurs as a result of some molecular changes, such as aberrant or dysregulated expression of receptors, in breast epithelial cells. Therefore, breast cancer cells can be detected through their membrane receptors using specific antibodies. This study aims to form a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) biosensor to detect breast cancer cells. Notch receptor signaling directs many pathways in developing breast tissue and its expression is found to be aberrant or disregulated in metastatic breast cancer cells. Its involvement in malignant transformation makes it a potential drug target. The human metastatic breast cancer cells, MDA MB 231 cells, are used here as a model due to the overexpression of notch-4 receptor on their membranes. First, to increase the surface area of the chip poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-PHEMA) nanoparticles were synthesized and were placed on QCM chip surface. Then, the surface was further modified and functionalized by binding notch-4 receptor antibody using carbodiimide. Nanoparticle coated and antibody attached QCM chips were characterized via FTIR-ATR, ellipsometry, contact angle measurements and by atomic force microscopy. MDA MB 231 cell samples ranging in numbers between 50-300 cells/ml were introduced to the functionalized QCM chip at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and the resonance frequency (f0) was recorded. Then, cell samples were applied to the QCM biosensor and the resonance frequency was monitored. The binding mode fitted best to Langmuir isotherm model. Sensitivity is found to be high and the selectivity as tested by competitive adsorption of L929 mouse fibroblast cells showed that QCM biosensor was 17.5 times more selective for MDA MB 231 cells than the fibroblast cells. The chip was reusable and was stable over 3 months. These results indicate that, the notch-4 receptor antibody PHEMA nanoparticle QCM biosensor is highly selective and efficient system that may be used for cancer cell detection.