Results
Title

Direct Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Whole Blood Using Time‐Resolved Luminescent Lanthanide Nanoprobes.

Authors

Guo, Hanhan; Song, Xiaorong; Lei, Wen; He, Cheng; You, Wenwu; Lin, Qingzhong; Zhou, Shanyong; Chen, Xueyuan; Chen, Zhuo

Abstract

The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is crucial to early cancer diagnosis and the evaluation of cancer metastasis. However, it remains challenging due to the scarcity of CTCs in the blood. Herein, we report an ultrasensitive platform for the direct detection of CTCs using luminescent lanthanide nanoprobes. These were designed to recognize the epithelial cell adhesion molecules on cancer cells, allowing signal amplification through dissolution‐enhanced time‐resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and the elimination of short‐lived autofluorescence interference. This enabled the direct detection of blood breast‐cancer cells with a limit of detection down to 1 cell/well of a 96‐well plate. Moreover, blood CTCs (≥10 cells mL−1) can be detected in cancer patients with a detection rate of 93.9 % (14/15 patients). We envision that this ultrasensitive detection platform with excellent practicality may provide an effective strategy for early cancer diagnosis and prognosis evaluation.

Subjects

BLOOD cells; CELL adhesion molecules; EPITHELIAL cells; CANCER diagnosis; CANCER prognosis; RARE earth metals

Publication

Angewandte Chemie, 2019, Vol 131, Issue 35, p12323

ISSN

0044-8249

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1002/ange.201907605