Electrochemical lab on a chip for high-throughput analysis of anticancer drugs efficiency

We describe a new method for rapid, sensitive, and high-throughput detection of colon cancer cells' response to differentiation therapy, using a novel electrochemical lab-on-a-chip system. Differentiation-inducing agents such as butyric acid and its derivatives were introduced to miniature colon cancer samples within the nanovolume chip chambers. The efficacy of each of the differentiation-inducing agents was evaluated by electrochemical detection of the cellular enzymatic activity level, whereas reappearance of normal enzymatic activity denotes effective therapy. The results demonstrate the ability to evaluate simultaneously multiplex drug effects on miniature tumor samples (approximately 15 cells) rapidly (5 minutes) and sensitively, with quantitative correlation between cancer cells' number and the induced current. The use of miniature analytical devices is of special interest in clinically relevant samples, in that it requires less tissue for diagnosis, and enables high-throughput analysis and comparison of various drug effects on one small tumor sample, while maintaining uniform biological and environmental conditions.