Highly accurate and label-free discrimination of single cancer cell using a plasmonic oxide-based nanoprobe

Bao Yue Zhang; Pengju Yin; Yihong Hu; Crispin Szydzik; Muhammad Waqas Khan; Kai Xu; Peter Thurgood; Nasir Mahmood; Chaitali Dekiwadia; Sanjida Afrin; Yunyi Yang; Qijie Ma; Chris F McConville; Khashayar Khoshmanesh; Arnan Mitchell; Bo Hu; Sara Baratchi; Jian Zhen Ou

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2021.113814

Highly accurate and label-free discrimination of single cancer cell using a plasmonic oxide-based nanoprobe

Biosens Bioelectron. 2022 Feb 15:198:113814. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113814. Epub 2021 Nov 19.

Authors

Bao Yue Zhang¹, Pengju Yin², Yihong Hu³, Crispin Szydzik⁴, Muhammad Waqas Khan⁵, Kai Xu³, Peter Thurgood³, Nasir Mahmood³, Chaitali Dekiwadia⁶, Sanjida Afrin³, Yunyi Yang⁷, Qijie Ma³, Chris F McConville⁸, Khashayar Khoshmanesh³, Arnan Mitchell³, Bo Hu⁹, Sara Baratchi¹⁰, Jian Zhen Ou¹¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia. Electronic address: baoyue.zhang@rmit.edu.au.
² School of Mathematics and Physics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, 056038, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710126, China.
³ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia.
⁴ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia; The Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia.
⁵ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia; Manufacturing, CSIRO, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.
⁶ RMIT Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility (RMMF), RMIT University, Melbourne, 3001, Australia.
⁷ Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122 Australia.
⁸ Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC, 3216, Australia.
⁹ School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710126, China.
¹⁰ School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, 3083 Australia; Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: sara.baratchi@rmit.edu.au.
¹¹ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia. Electronic address: jianzhen.ou@rmit.edu.au.

PMID: 34823964
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113814

Abstract

The detection of cancer cells at the single-cell level enables many novel functionalities such as next-generation cancer prognosis and accurate cellular analysis. While surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been widely considered as an effective tool in a low-cost and label-free manner, however, it is challenging to discriminate single cancer cells with an accuracy above 90% mainly due to the poor biocompatibility of the noble-metal-based SERS agents. Here, we report a dual-functional nanoprobe based on dopant-driven plasmonic oxides, demonstrating a maximum accuracy above 90% in distinguishing single THP-1 cell from peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 from human macrophage cell line U937 based on their SERS patterns. Furthermore, this nanoprobe can be triggered by the bio-redox response from individual cells towards stimuli, empowering another complementary colorimetric cell detection, approximately achieving the unity discrimination accuracy at a single-cell level. Our strategy could potentially enable the future accurate and low-cost detection of cancer cells from mixed cell samples.

Keywords: Colorimetric cell detection; Plasmon oxide; Single cell detection; Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
HEK293 Cells
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
Metal Nanoparticles*
Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Oxides
Spectrum Analysis, Raman

Substances

Oxides