Novel Cells-Based Electrochemical Sensor for Investigating the Interactions of Cancer Cells with Molecules and Screening Multitarget Anticancer Drugs

Abstract

A novel, effective, and label-free electrochemical sensor was constructed for investigating the interactions between cancer cells and molecules, based on targeted cancer cells immobilized on a bilayer architecture of N-doped graphene–Pt nanoparticles–chitosan (NGR–Pt–CS) and polyaniline (PANI). The interactions between folic acid (FA, positive control) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, negative control) and the choice of targeted cells, HepG2 and A549 cells, were investigated by measuring the current change of the sensor to [Fe­(CN)6]3–/4– before and after interactions, and the binding constants were calculated to be 1.37 × 105 and 1.92 × 105 M–1 by sensing kinetics. Furthermore, 18 main components from Aidi injection (ADI) were studied to screen compounds that have interactions with different targeted cancer cells including HepG2 and A549 cells. The potential target groups of the interactions between screened active compounds and targeted cancer cells were analyzed through computer-aided molecular docking. In this sensing system, molecules did not require electrochemical activity, and different targeted cancer cells could be immobilized on the modified electrode surface, truly reflecting the categories and numbers of targets. Additionally, the proposed sensor specifically circumvented the current paradigm in most cells-based electrochemical sensors for screening drugs, in which the changes in cell behavior induced by drugs are monitored. This study provided a novel, simple, and generally applicable method for exploring the interaction of molecules with cancer cells and screening multitarget drugs.

Label-Free Electrochemical Biosensor Platforms for Cancer Diagnosis: Recent Achievements and Challenges

“…Cancer cells were immobilized on the GCE coated with N-doped graphene–Pt nanoparticles–chitosan and polyaniline. It is stated that this electrode surface might be suitable for examining different cell lines by changing the targeted cells as a result of the electrochemical properties examined by DPV with its large surface area and catalytic properties [ 115 ].…”

Electrochemical Biosensing Interface Based on Carbon Dots-Fe3O4 Nanomaterial for the Determination of Escherichia coli O157:H7

“…It is well known that [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3−/4− is often used as a supporting electrolyte for electrochemical biosensors (Fan et al, 2018;Li et al, 2021;Nano et al, 2021). The working electrodes were electrochemically characterized by CVs in 1.0 mM [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3−/4− and 0.1 M KCl solution (Figure 3A).…”

Split-Type Electrochemical Immunoassay System Triggering Ascorbic Acid-Mediated Signal Magnification Based on a Controlled-Release Strategy

“…Electrochemical (EC) immunoassay based on specific recognition of a target by the antibody is currently one of the most extensively explored assays. − Possessing merits of high sensitivity, wide dynamic response range, low background noise, and easy controllability, various types of EC strategies are put forward for trace-level disease markers analysis. − Nevertheless, the inherent defects of the traditional sandwich-type strategy are intricate operation and time consumption. Meanwhile, it should be highlighted that the accumulation of interference on the EC sensing platform caused by the immunoreaction process makes the traditional sandwich-type strategy unreliable for sensitive determination .…”