A bio-inspired amplification cascade for the detection of rare cancer cells
- Rüegg, Curzio Pathology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Reis, Corine Pathology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Rafiee, Sarah Pathology, Department of Oncology, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura Adolphe Merkle Institute, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- List, Jonathan Adolphe Merkle Institute, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara Adolphe Merkle Institute, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Mayer, Michael Adolphe Merkle Institute, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Petri-Fink, Alke Adolphe Merkle Institute, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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27.02.2019
Published in:
- CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry. - 2019, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 63–68
English
The main cause of cancer-related death is due to cancer cell spreading and formation of secondary tumors in distant organs, the so-called metastases. Metastatic cancer cells are detectable in the blood of cancer patients as circulating tumor cells (CTC) and may be exploited for prognostic and monitoring purposes, including in breast cancer. Due to their very low frequency, however, their quantitative detection remains a challenge in clinical practice. Nature has developed mechanisms to amplify rare biological events or weak signals, such as intracellular signaling pathways, cytokine networks or the coagulation cascades. At the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) in Bio-Inspired Materials we are coupling gold nanoparticle-based strategies with fibrinogen and DNA bio-inspired amplification cascades to develop an in vitro test to specifically and sensitively detect CTCs in patients' blood. In this article, we describe the biological context, the concept of bio-inspired amplification, and the approaches chosen. We also discuss limitations, open questions and further potential biomedical applications of such an approach.
- Faculty
- Faculté des sciences et de médecine
- Department
- AMI - Bio-Nanomatériaux, Médecine 3ème année, AMI - Biophysique
- Language
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- English
- Classification
- Biological sciences
- License
- License undefined
- Identifiers
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- RERO DOC 324663
- DOI 10.2533/chimia.2019.63
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/307629
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