(Invited) Electrical Sensing and Manipulation of Cells for Cancer Electrical Therapy

Abstract

The intrinsic electronic properties of biomolecules with their self-assembly capability has sparked a revolution in developing biomedical devices for both diagnosis and therapy. Living cells are associated with electrical characteristics due to the cell membrane transport processes and are thus responsive to and even generate electric fields and currents. Electrical properties of cells determine most of the cellular functions it has been shown that the electrical properties of cancer cells differ from normal proliferating cells. Electric fields may induce differential effects in normal and cancer cells thus providing a powerful electrotherapy option for the treatment of cancer with limited toxic chemicals and possible immunogenic responses in the host tissue.Cell on a chip-based biosensor is valuable tool for monitoring cell behavior because they can provide information about the total physiological responses of cells to external stimuli. We successfully used cell impedance sensing system to monitor the real-time consequences on cellular viability under the electric field stimuli. We demonstrated that cancer cell proliferation can be modulated by externally applied alternating electric fields in the intermediate frequency range of 100 kHz - 200 kHz. Interestingly, we demonstrated that different types of cancer cells are affected by different optimal frequencies of these electric fields. We also observed a decrease in proliferation with the addition of HER2-gold nanoparticles (AuNps) to target the cancer cells and enhance the effects of the electric field towards the cells without affecting the non-cancerous cells. With the attached nanoparticles, the zeta potential of the SKOV3 and the MCF7 before and after incorporation of the HER2-AuNPs decreased compared to their non-cancerous counterparts. The decrease in membrane potential would thus leave the cells more vulnerable to the detrimental effects of the applied electric field. The outcome of this research will improve our fundamental understanding of the behavior of cancer cells and define optimal parameters of electrotherapy for clinical and drug delivery applications.