Hung Lien-Yu, Fu Chien-Yu, Wang Chih-Hung, Chuang Yuan-Jhe, Tsai Yi-Cheng, Lo Yi-Ling, Hsu Pang-Hung, Chang Hwan-You, Shiesh Shu-Chu, Hsu Keng-Fu, Lee Gwo-Bin
Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Biomicrofluidics. 2018 Oct 3;12(5):054108. doi: 10.1063/1.5050451. eCollection 2018 Sep.
Cancer is the most serious disease worldwide, and ovarian cancer (OvCa) is the second most common type of gynecological cancer. There is consequently an urgent need for early-stage detection of OvCa, which requires affinity reagent biomarkers for OvCa. Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and phage display technology are two powerful technologies for identifying affinity reagent biomarkers. However, the benchtop protocols for both screening technologies are relatively lengthy and require well-trained personnel. We therefore developed a novel, integrated microfluidic system capable of automating SELEX and phage display technology. Instead of using cancer cell lines, it is the first work which used tissue slides as screening targets, which possess more complicated and uncovered information for affinity reagents to recognize. This allowed for the identification of aptamer (nucleic acid) and peptide probes specific to OvCa cells and tissues. Furthermore, this developed system could be readily modified to uncover affinity reagents for diagnostics or even target therapy of other cancer cell types in the future.
癌症是全球最严重的疾病，而卵巢癌（OvCa）是第二常见的妇科癌症。因此，迫切需要对卵巢癌进行早期检测，这需要用于卵巢癌的亲和试剂生物标志物。指数富集配体系统进化技术（SELEX）和噬菌体展示技术是两种用于识别亲和试剂生物标志物的强大技术。然而，这两种筛选技术的台式实验方案相对冗长，并且需要训练有素的人员。因此，我们开发了一种新型的集成微流控系统，能够实现SELEX和噬菌体展示技术的自动化。该系统不是使用癌细胞系，而是首次使用组织切片作为筛选靶点，组织切片拥有更为复杂且未被揭示的信息供亲和试剂识别。这使得能够鉴定出对卵巢癌细胞和组织具有特异性的适体（核酸）和肽探针。此外，这个开发的系统可以很容易地进行修改，以便在未来发现用于其他癌细胞类型诊断甚至靶向治疗的亲和试剂。
