Article Title

Aptamer-conjugated upconversion nanoprobes assisted by magnetic separation for effective isolation and sensitive detection of circulating tumor cells

Authors

Shuai Fang, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Chao Wang, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Jian Xiang, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Liang Cheng, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Xuejiao Song, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Ligeng Xu, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Rui Peng, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Zhuang Liu, § These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Keywords

circulating tumar cell (CTC) detection, upconversion nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, aptamer

Abstract

Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In this study, aptamer-conjugated upconversion nano- particles (UCNPs) are used for the first time as nanoprobes to recognize tumor cells, which are then enriched by attaching with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and placing in the presence of a magnetic field. Owing to the autofluorescence- free nature of upconversion luminescence imaging, as well as the use of magnetic separation to further reduce background signals, our technique allows for highly sensitive detection and collection of small numbers of tumor cells spiked into healthy blood samples, and shows promise for CTC detection in medical diagnostics.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0497-9

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Shuai Fang,Chao Wang,Jian Xiang,Liang Cheng,Xuejiao Song,Ligeng Xu,Rui Peng,Zhuang Liu, Aptamer-conjugated upconversion nanoprobes assisted by magnetic separation for effective isolation and sensitive detection of circulating tumor cells. NanoRes.2014, 7(9): 1327–1336