Cancer Cell Membrane Vesicle for Multiplex MicroRNA Imaging in Living Cells

Highly efficient cellular transfection and intracellular signal amplification is a prerequisite for low-abundant microRNA (miRNA) imaging and biomedical application. Herein, we report a functional cancer cell membrane (CM) vesicle, Au-P/DSN@CM (DSN, double-specific nucleases), which consists of Au nanoparticles modified with three types of fluorescent miRNA detection probes (Au-P) and DSN that simultaneously encapsulate in cancer CM. We find that the Au-P/DSN@CM could specifically target the cancer cell and transfect the cell with higher efficiency than Au nanoparticles. The internalized Au-P/DSN@CM could further specifically recognize the target miRNA and induce DSN-assisted target recycle signal amplification, leading to multiple miRNA simultaneous detection with high sensitivity. It successfully detects oncogenic miRNAs in MCF-7 cells with high sensitivity and is amenable to monitor the dynamic expression change of oncogenic miRNAs in cancer cells. Our study represents a promising gene delivery vector for cancer diagnosis and potential therapy.