ARMOR: Auto-Assembled Resilient Biomimetic Calcified Ornaments for Selective Cell Protection by Dual-Aptamer-Driven Hybridization Chain Reaction

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Apr 17;62(17):e202301083. doi: 10.1002/anie.202301083. Epub 2023 Mar 3.

Abstract

Unlike plant and microbial cells having cell walls, the outermost layer of mammalian cell is a delicate, two-layered structure of phospholipids with proteins embedded, which is susceptible to environmental changes. It is necessary to create an "armor" on cell surface to protect cell integrity. Here, we propose an Auto-assembled Resilient bioMimetic calcified ORnaments (ARMOR) strategy driven by dual-aptamer-based hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and Ca2+ assisted calcification for selective cell protection. This co-recognition design enhances the selectivity and leverages robust in situ signal amplification by HCR to improve the sensitivity. The calcified shell is cogenerated by crosslinking the alginate-HCR product with Ca2+ ion. ARMOR has high efficiency for shielding cells from environmental assaults, which can be applied to circulating tumor cell (CTC) protection, isolation, and identification, maintaining the native state and intact genetic information for downstream analysis.

Keywords: Aptamer; Cell Calcification; Cytoprotection; Hybridization Chain Reaction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide* / chemistry
  • Biomimetics
  • Biosensing Techniques*
  • Cytoprotection
  • Mammals
  • Nucleic Acid Hybridization
  • Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide