Antibody Nanopatterned Biosensor for Detection of Physical Confinement-Induced Cytokine Secretion in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Physical confinement have been shown to alter cancer cell migration mechanisms and regulate intracellular signaling events during tumor development and metastasis. However, the effect of confinement on cytokine secretion remains largely unknown. To better understand this, we designed an in-vitro confinement environment with cell vertically confined and sandwiched between two collagen coated glass slides. This method can enable vertical confinement down to 5. Human epithelial cell MCF10A and breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231 were then cultured inside the in-vitro vertical confinement chamber for 48h. Using PCR test, we found that IL-6 expression was largely upregulated in MDA-MB 231 cell line after vertical confinement. We then designed and fabricated a nanopatterned electrochemical immunosensor to determine the IL-6 level in cell culture serum after confinement. The immunosensor was constructed by employing Au nanopatterned surface immobilized with antibody, exhibited a low limit of detection. The obtained results point towards rapid, sensitive, and specific early diagnosis of breast cancer at the point of care and other low-resource settings.