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Updated: May 31, 2026
A Method of Targeted Cell Isolation via Glass Surface Functionalization
Published on: September 20, 2016
Nanotextured substrates with immobilized aptamers for cancer cell isolation and cytology
Yuan Wan1, M Arif Iftakher Mahmood, Na Li
1Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
Background:
The detection of a small number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is important, especially in the early stages of cancer. Small numbers of CTCs are hard to detect, because very few approaches are sensitive enough to differentiate these from the pool of other cells. Improving the affinity of a selective, surface-functionalized molecule is important given the scarcity of CTCs in vivo. There are several proteins and aptamers that provide such high affinity; however, using surface nanotexturing increases this affinity even further.
Methods:
The authors report an approach to improve the affinity of tumor cell capture by using novel aptamers against cell membrane overexpressed epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) on a nanotextured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Surface-immobilized aptamers were used to specifically capture tumor cells from physiologic samples.
Results:
The nanotexturing of PDMS increased surface roughness at the nanoscale. This increased the effective surface area and resulted in a significantly higher degree of surface functionalization. The phenomenon resulted in increased density of immobilized EGFR-specific RNA aptamer molecules and provided significantly higher efficiency to capture cancer cells from a mixture. The data indicated that CTCs could be captured and enriched, leading to higher yield yet higher background.
Conclusions:
A comparison between glass slides, plain PDMS, and nanotextured PDMS functionalized with aptamers demonstrated that a 2-fold approach of using aptamers on nanotextured PDMS can be important for cancer cytology devices, and especially for the idea of a "lab-on-chip," toward higher yield in capture efficiency.
Insights
Nanotextured surfaces with aptamers significantly enhance the capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This novel approach improves cancer detection sensitivity, crucial for early diagnosis and lab-on-chip applications.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Cancer Research
Background:
- Early cancer detection relies on identifying circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are often scarce and difficult to detect.
- Current methods lack the sensitivity to reliably differentiate small numbers of CTCs from other cells.
- Enhancing the affinity of capture molecules is critical for improving CTC detection rates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a highly sensitive method for capturing circulating tumor cells (CTCs).
- To investigate the synergistic effect of aptamers and nanotexturing for improved tumor cell affinity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized novel aptamers targeting epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) overexpressed on tumor cells.
- Functionalized nanotextured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates with these aptamers for specific tumor cell capture.
- Evaluated capture efficiency using physiologic samples containing tumor cells.
Main Results:
- Nanotexturing PDMS increased surface area and nanoscale roughness, enhancing aptamer immobilization.
- The nanotextured substrate with aptamers demonstrated significantly higher efficiency in capturing cancer cells compared to plain surfaces.
- Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were successfully captured and enriched, leading to increased yield, albeit with higher background.
Conclusions:
- A combined approach of aptamer functionalization and nanotextured PDMS surfaces offers a significant improvement for cancer cytology.
- This method shows promise for enhancing the yield and efficiency of CTC capture in "lab-on-chip" devices.
- The 2-fold strategy is crucial for advancing cancer diagnostic tools and early detection capabilities.
