Solid-state nanopores have emerged as possible candidates for next-generation DNA sequencing devices. In such a device, the DNA sequence would be determined by measuring how the forces on the DNA molecules, and also the ion currents through the nanopore, change as the molecules pass through the nanopore. Unlike their biological counterparts, solid-state nanopores have the advantage that they can withstand a wide range of analyte solutions and environments. Here we report solid-state nanopore channels that are selective towards single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Nanopores functionalized with a 'probe' of hair-pin loop DNA can, under an applied electrical field, selectively transport short lengths of 'target' ssDNA that are complementary to the probe. Even a single base mismatch between the probe and the target results in longer translocation pulses and a significantly reduced number of translocation events. Our single-molecule measurements allow us to measure separately the molecular flux and the pulse duration, providing a tool to gain fundamental insight into the channel-molecule interactions. The results can be explained in the conceptual framework of diffusive molecular transport with particle-channel interactions.

Exposing rare but highly malignant tumor cells that migrate from the primary tumor mass into adjacent tissue(s) or circulate in the bloodstream is critical for early detection and effective intervention(s). Here, we report on an aptamer-based strategy directed against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), the most common oncogene in glioblastoma (GBM), to detect these deadly tumor cells. GBMs are characterized by diffuse infiltration into normal brain regions, and the inability to detect GBM cells renders the disease surgically incurable with a median survival of just 14.2 months. To test the sensitivity and specificity of our platform, anti-EGFR RNA aptamers were immobilized on chemically modified glass surfaces. Cells tested included primary human GBM cells expressing high levels of the wild-type EGFR, as well as genetically engineered murine glioma cells overexpressing the most common EGFR mutant (EGFRvIII lacking exons 2-7) in Ink4a/Arf-deficient astrocytes. We found that surfaces functionalized with anti-EGFR aptamers could capture both the human and murine GBM cells with high sensitivity and specificity. Our findings show how novel aptamer substrates could be used to determine whether surgical resection margins are free of tumor cells, or more widely for detecting tumor cells circulating in peripheral blood to improve early detection and/or monitoring residual disease after treatment.

Background Detection of a small number of circulating tumor cells is important, especially at the early stages of cancer. The small number of CTCs is hard to detect as very few approaches are sensitive enough to differentiate these from the pool of other cells. Improving the affinity of a selective surface-functionalized molecule is important given the sparsity of CTCs in vivo. There are a number of proteins and aptamers that provide such a high affinity but using a surface nano-texturing increases this affinity even further. Method This work reports an approach to improve affinity of tumor cell capture by using novel aptamers against cell-membrane over-expressed Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFR) on a nano-textured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Surface immobilized aptamers are used to specifically capture tumor cells from physiological samples. Results The nano-texturing of PDMS increased surface roughness at the nanoscale. This increased the effective surface area and resulted in a significantly higher degree of surface functionalization. The phenomenon resulted in increased density of immobilized EGFR specific RNA aptamer molecules and provided significantly higher efficiency to capture cancer cells from a mixture. The data showed that CTCs could be captured and enriched leading to higher yield, yet higher background. Conclusion The comparison of glass slides, plain PDMS and nano-textured PDMS functionalized with aptamers show that a two-fold approach of using aptamers on nano-textured PDMS can be an important factor for cancer cytology devices especially for the idea of lab-on-chip towards higher yield in capture efficiency.