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Updated: May 30, 2026
Using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to Develop Diagnostic Tools
Published on: October 1, 2007
Microelectromechanical system-based diagnostic technology for cervical cancer
1Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of the China Medical University Shenyang, Shenyang 110004, China. baossunny@163.com
Purpose:
To determine the correlations of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and α6 integrin up-regulation to the tumorigenesis and development of cervical cancer, and develop an on-chip antibody-based detection system using the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device for recognizing and capturing cervical cancer cells from a mixed cell population.
Methods:
We determined the efficiency of an antibody-based MEMS platform in recognizing and capturing cervical cancer cells. In addition, α6 integrin was used as a capture antibody bound to the channel surface. Channels 2 cm long × 50 cm wide with inlet and outlet diameters of 50 cm were formed in microfluidic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chips.
Results:
The overall chip measured 2 cm × 1.5 cm × 0.5 cm. Using a syringe micropump, 20,000 normal human cervical epithelial cells (HCEC), 20,000 human cervical stromal cells (HCSC), and 20,000 human cervical cancer cells (HCCC) were suspended in PBS and flowed through the system at a rate of 20 mL/min. At this flow rate, more than 45% of cancer cells were captured, whereas less than 5% of normal cells were captured. In addition, we confirmed the specificity of this system in cell-type targeting using PCR.
Conclusions:
MEMS is a sensitive and accurate method for capturing and enriching cells of interest. This technique is potentially useful in detecting cervical cancer at all stages, as well as other cancers with similar characteristics of cell surface antigen expression.
