Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are promising biomarkers for metastatic cancer detection and monitoring progression. However, detection of CTCs remains challenging due to their low frequency and heterogeneity. Herein, we report a bioinspired approach to detect individual cancer cells, based on a signal amplification cascade using a programmable DNA hybridization chain reaction (HCR) circuit. We applied this approach to detect HER2+ cancer cells using the anti-HER2 antibody (trastuzumab) coupled to initiator DNA eliciting a HCR cascade that leads to a fluorescent signal at the cell surface. At 4 °C, this HCR detection scheme resulted in highly efficient, specific and sensitive signal amplification of the DNA hairpins specifically on the membrane of the HER2+ cells in a background of HER2- cells and peripheral blood leukocytes, which remained almost non-fluorescent. The results indicate that this system offers a new strategy that may be further developed toward an in vitro diagnostic platform for the sensitive and efficient detection of CTC.
Keywords: DNA circuits; DNA nanotechnology; biosensors; breast cancer; circulating tumor cells (CTC); hybridization chain reaction (HCR).
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.