Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) is a malignant disease with a high prevalence worldwide. The main cause of death is not the primary tumor, but instead the spread of tumor cells to distant sites. The aim of the present study was to examine a new method for the detection of cancer cells in aqueous medium using bioimpedance spectroscopy assisted with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP’s) exposure to a constant magnetic field. The spectroscopic patterns were identified for three breast cancer cell lines. Each BC cell line represents a different pathologic stage: the early stage (MCF-7), invasive phase (MDA-MB-231) and metastasis (SK-BR-3). For this purpose, bioimpedance measurements were carried out at a certain frequency range with the aid of nanoprobes, consisting of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coupled to a monoclonal antibody. The antibody was specific for the predominant cell surface protein for each cell line, which was identified by using RT-qPCR and flow cytometry. Accordingly, EpCAM corresponds to MCF-7, MUC-1 to MDA-MB-231, and HER-2 to SK-BR-3. Despite their low concentrations, BC cells could be detected by impedance spectroscopy. Hence, this methodology should permit the monitoring of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and therefore help to prevent recurrences and metastatic processes during BC treatment.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) represents one of the biggest public health problems in the world, being the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in 103 countries[1,2]
The RNA expression profile was determined for each BC cell line by RT-qPCR (Fig. 1)
These results were confirmed by flow cytometry, which revealed a predominant protein expression of EpCAM in MCF-7, MUC-1 in MDA-MB-231 and HER-2 in SK-BR-3 (Fig. 3)
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) represents one of the biggest public health problems in the world, being the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in 103 countries (with cervix and lung cancer assuming the leading role in 43 and 27 countries, respectively)[1,2]. The distinct physical and biological properties of cancer cells provide the basis for their identification by different techniques, including flow cytometry, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), gene expression studies, and so on These techniques are limited by the long preparation times needed, the requirement for highly trained personnel and expensive equipment, and the lack of methodological standardization. Www.nature.com/scientificreports health care centers with limited resources need more economical methods for detecting the presence of cancer cells and evaluating the response to treatment[10]. Karabacak et al reported a complete marker-free system designed on the basis of deterministic lateral displacement, inertial focusing and magnetophoresis to sort red/white blood cells and rare cells from a whole blood sample They pointed out that the limitation of the system is associated with immunoaffinity-based selection, critical hydrodynamic diameters, and expensive reagents and fabrication requirements[11]
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