Cell Surface-Confined DNAzyme Coordination-Facilitated Logical Engineering for Precise Cell Identification

DNA logical processing, which employs DNA as a building block to perform logic operations, attracts considerable attention in biomedical applications. Herein, a new DNA logical processing strategy is explored for selective cell engineering and to develop a feasible technology for precise cell identification. Specifically, this cell identification technology accomplishes logical engineering through the employment of cell surface-confined DNAzyme coordination, which not only enables the labeling of versatile DNA probes at specific cells but also avoids false-positive outputs caused by the neighboring non-target cells. In proof-of-principle studies, this cell identification technology achieves precise magnetic isolation and electrochemical determination of specific cancer cells (i.e., stem cell-like subpopulations in breast cancer). When further applied to tumors taken from mouse models, this technology exhibits accuracy comparable to that of flow cytometry; however, it is simple to operate and offers superior recognition capabilities for revealing multiple biomarkers. More importantly, this cell identification technology can be successfully applied in tumor tissues from breast cancer and lung cancer patients, demonstrating satisfactory practicability. Therefore, this work may provide new insights for the precise identification of cells, especially cancer cells, and is expected to offer technical support for clinical diagnosis and related biomedical research.