National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Takamatsu, Kagawa 761-0395, Japan.
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan.
Biosensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 12;11(3):78. doi: 10.3390/bios11030078.
Immunostaining has been widely used in cancer prognosis for the quantitative detection of cancer cells present in the bloodstream. However, conventional detection methods based on the target membrane protein expression exhibit the risk of missing cancer cells owing to variable protein expressions. In this study, the resistive pulse method (RPM) was employed to discriminate between cultured cancer cells (NCI-H1650) and T lymphoblastoid leukemia cells (CCRF-CEM) by measuring the ionic current response of cells flowing through a micro-space. The height and shape of a pulse signal were used for the simultaneous measurement of size, deformability, and surface charge of individual cells. An accurate discrimination of cancer cells could not be obtained using 1.0 × phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as an electrolyte solution to compare the size measurements by a microscopic observation. However, an accurate discrimination of cancer cells with a discrimination error rate of 4.5 ± 0.5% was achieved using 0.5 × PBS containing 2.77% glucose as the electrolyte solution. The potential application of RPM for the accurate discrimination of cancer cells from leukocytes was demonstrated through the measurement of the individual cell size, deformability, and surface charge in a solution with a low electrolyte concentration.
免疫染色已广泛用于癌症预后，以定量检测血液中的癌细胞。然而，基于靶膜蛋白表达的传统检测方法由于蛋白质表达的可变性，存在漏检癌细胞的风险。在这项研究中，通过测量流经微空间的细胞的离子电流响应，使用电阻脉冲法 (RPM) 来区分培养的癌细胞 (NCI-H1650) 和 T 淋巴母细胞白血病细胞 (CCRF-CEM)。脉冲信号的高度和形状用于同时测量单个细胞的大小、变形性和表面电荷。使用 1.0×磷酸盐缓冲盐水 (PBS) 作为电解质溶液，无法通过显微镜观察进行尺寸测量，从而无法准确区分癌细胞。然而，使用含有 2.77%葡萄糖的 0.5×PBS 作为电解质溶液，可实现对癌细胞的准确区分，区分错误率为 4.5±0.5%。通过测量低电解质浓度溶液中单个细胞的大小、变形性和表面电荷，证明了 RPM 用于从白细胞中准确区分癌细胞的潜在应用。
