Encapsulation and release of living tumor cells using hydrogels with the hybridization chain reaction

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) enable noninvasive liquid biopsy and identification of cancer. Various approaches exist for the capture and release of CTCs, including microfluidic methods and those involving magnetic beads or nanostructured solid interfaces. However, the concomitant cell damage and fragmentation that often occur during capture make it difficult to extensively characterize and analyze living CTCs. Here, we describe an aptamer-trigger-clamped hybridization chain reaction (atcHCR) method for the capture of CTCs by porous 3D DNA hydrogels. The 3D environment of the DNA networks minimizes cell damage, and the CTCs can subsequently be released for live-cell analysis. In this protocol, initiator DNAs with aptamer-toehold biblocks specifically bind to the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) on the surface of CTCs, which triggers the atcHCR and the formation of a DNA hydrogel. The DNA hydrogel cloaks the CTCs, facilitating quantification with minimal cell damage. This method can be used to quantitively identify as few as 10 MCF-7 cells in a 2-µL blood sample. Decloaking of tumor cells via gentle chemical stimulus (ATP) is used to release living tumor cells for subsequent cell culture and live-cell analysis. We also describe how to use the protocol to encapsulate and release cells of cancer cell lines, which can be used in preliminary experiments to model CTCs. The whole protocol takes ~2.5 d to complete, including downstream cell culture and analysis.