One-dimensional nanoneedle-like arrays have emerged as an attractive tool for penetrating the cell membrane to achieve intracellular applications including drug delivery, electrical recording, and biochemical detection. Hollow nanoneedles, also called nanostraws (NSs), combined with nanoelectroporation have been demonstrated as a powerful platform for intracellular drug delivery and extraction of intracellular contents. However, the fabrication technique of nanostraws still requires complicated and expensive atomic layer deposition and etching processes and fails to produce conductive nanostraws. Herein, we developed a commonly accessible and versatile electrodeposition approach to controllably fabricate conductive nanostraw arrays based on various types of metal or conductive polymer materials. Representatively, Pt nanostraws (Pt NSs) with 400 nm diameter were further integrated with a low-voltage nanoelectroporation system to achieve cell detection, intracellular drug delivery, and sensing of intracellular enzymes. Both theoretical simulations and experimental results revealed that the conductive nanostraws in direct contact with cells could induce high-efficiency cell electroporation at relatively low voltage (∼5 V). Efficient delivery of reagents into live cells with spatial control and repeated extraction of intracellular enzymes (e.g., caspase-3) for temporal monitoring from the same set of cells were demonstrated. This work not only pioneers a new avenue for universal production of conductive nanostraws on a large scale but also presents great potential for developing nanodevices to achieve a variety of biomedical applications including cell re-engineering, cell-based therapy, and signaling pathway monitoring.

Aplastic anemia (AA) is generally considered as an immune-mediated bone marrow failure syndrome with defective hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and marrow microenvironment. Previous studies have demonstrated the defective HSCs and aberrant T cellular-immunity in AA using a microarray approach. However, little is known about the overall specialty of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). In the present study, we comprehensively compared the biological features and gene expression profile of BM-MSCs between AA patients and healthy volunteers. In comparison with healthy controls, BM-MSCs from AA patients showed aberrant morphology, decreased proliferation and clonogenic potential and increased apoptosis. BM-MSCs from AA patients were susceptible to be induced to differentiate into adipocytes but more difficult to differentiate into osteoblasts. Consistent with abnormal biological features, a large number of genes implicated in cell cycle, cell division, proliferation, chemotaxis and hematopoietic cell lineage showed markedly decreased expression in BM-MSCs from AA patients. Conversely, more related genes with apoptosis, adipogenesis and immune response showed increased expression in BM-MSCs from AA patients. The gene expression profile of BM-MSCs further confirmed the abnormal biological properties and provided significant evidence for the possible mechanism of the destruction of the bone marrow microenvironment in AA.

Downstream analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has provided new insights into cancer research. In particular, the detection of CTCs, followed by the regulation and monitoring of their intracellular activities, can provide valuable information for comprehensively understanding cancer pathogenesis and progression. However, current CTC detection techniques are rarely capable of in situ regulation and monitoring of the intracellular microenvironments of cancer cells over time. Here, we developed a multifunctional branched nanostraw (BNS)-electroporation platform that could effectively capture CTCs and allow for downstream regulation and monitoring of their intracellular activities in a real-time and in situ manner. The BNSs possessed numerous nanobranches on the outer sidewall of hollow nanotubes, which could be conjugated with specific antibodies to facilitate the effective capture of CTCs. Nanoelectroporation could be applied through the BNSs to nondestructively porate the membranes of the captured cells at a low voltage, allowing the delivery of exogenous biomolecules into the cytosol and the extraction of cytosolic contents through the BNSs without affecting cell viability. The efficient delivery of biomolecules (e.g., small molecule dyes and DNA plasmids) into cancer cells with spatial and temporal control and, conversely, the repeated extraction of intracellular enzymes (e.g., caspase-3) for real-time monitoring were both demonstrated. This technology can provide new opportunities for the comprehensive understanding of cancer cell functions that will facilitate cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a bleeding disorder commonly encountered in clinical practice. The International Working Group (IWG) on ITP has published several landmark papers on terminology, definitions, outcome criteria, bleeding assessment, diagnosis, and management of ITP. The Chinese consensus reports for diagnosis and management of adult ITP have been updated to the 4th edition. Based on current consensus positions and new emerging clinical evidence, the thrombosis and hemostasis group of the Chinese Society of Hematology issued Chinese guidelines for management of adult ITP, which aim to provide evidence-based recommendations for clinical decision making.

Techniques for capturing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play an important role in cancer diagnosis. Recently, various 3D micro/nanostructures have been applied for effective CTC detection, yet in situ manipulation of the captured cancer cells on micro/nano‐structural substrates is rarely achieved. In this work, a hierarchical spiky microstraw array (HS‐MSA)‐integrated microfluidic device is demonstrated that possessed dual functions of cancer cell capture and in situ chemical manipulations of the captured cells. The 3D micro/nanostructure of HS‐MSA could capture cancer cells with high efficiency (≈84%) and strong specificity. Based on the HS‐MSA‐integrated microfluidic device, extracellular drug delivery to the captured cancer cells is achieved in situ with excellent spatial, dose, and temporal controls. In addition, a drug‐screening assay on the captured cancer cells is implemented to investigate the cell apoptosis behavior under the microstraw‐mediated delivery of staurosporine (STS). This microfluidic system not only presents tremendous potential for CTCs detection technology, but also opens up new opportunities for high‐throughput drug screening on cancer cells and understanding the cellular activity.