No abstract

We report a nanosensor that uses cell lysates to rapidly profile the tumorigenicity of cancer cells. This sensing platform uses host-guest interactions between cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) and the cationic headgroup of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) to non-covalently modify the binding of three fluorescent proteins of a multichannel sensor in situ. This approach doubles the number of output channels to six, providing single-well identification of cell lysates with 100 % accuracy. Significantly, this classification could be extended beyond the training set, determining the invasiveness of novel cell lines. The unique fingerprint of these cell lysates required minimal sample quantity (200 ng, ~1000 cells), making the methodology compatible with microbiopsy technology.

Metallic nanoparticles provide versatile scaffolds for biosensing applications. In this review, we focus on the use of metallic nanoparticles for cell surface sensings. Examples of the use of both specific recognition and array-based “chemical nose” approaches to cell surface sensing will be discussed.