Abstract
Hepatic oval cells (HOCs) are considered the progeny of the intrahepatic stem cells that are found in a small population in the liver after hepatocyte proliferation is inhibited. Due to their small number, isolation and capture of these cells constitute a challenging task for immunosensor technology. This work describes the development of a 3D-printed continuous flow system and exploits disposable screen-printed electrodes for the rapid detection of HOCs that over-express the OV6 marker on their membrane. Multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrodes have a chitosan film that serves as a scaffold for the immobilization of oval cell marker antibodies (anti-OV6-Ab), which enhance the sensitivity of the biomarker and makes the designed sensor specific for oval cells. The developed sensor can be easily embedded into the 3D-printed flow cell to allow cells to be exposed continuously to the functionalized surface. The continuous flow is intended to increase capture of most of the target cells in the specimen. Contact angle measurements were performed to characterize the nature and quality of the modified sensor surface, and electrochemical measurements (cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV)) were performed to confirm the efficiency and selectivity of the fabricated sensor to detect HOCs. The proposed method is valuable for capturing rare cells and could provide an effective tool for cancer diagnosis and detection.
Highlights
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the number of newly diagnosed patients is expected to rise
Measurement of the thecontact contactangle anglebetween betweenwater waterand andthe themodified modified surface is typically used as Measurement of surface is typically used as an an indicator for surface hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity characteristics
Properties determine determine the Chitosan is a hydrophilic substance and its wettability can be affected by physical
Summary
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the number of newly diagnosed patients is expected to rise. Most research efforts in cancer diagnosis focus on developing biosensors with high selectivity and sensitivity, and inexpensive, rapid and easy operation. Current routine techniques to detect cancer include polymerase chain reaction (PCR), immunohistochemistry, and flow cytometry. These methods are effective in cancer diagnosis, they are expensive, time-consuming, and require highly skilled operators [3,4,5,6]. Electrochemical methods offer many advantages compared with other techniques, such as rapidity, low cost, ease of operation, use of small reagent/sample volumes, and, most importantly, high selectivity and sensitivity in the detection of specific antigens [7,8,9]. Since rare cells are low in number, continuous-flow devices allow samples to be exposed to the sensor surface continuously, which enhances the capability of capturing the rare cells [12,13,14]
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