Aptamer-Conjugated Nanoparticles For Selective Collection...

In the article â€Å"Aptamer-Conjugated Nanoparticles for Selective Collection and Detection of Cancer Cells†, the method of rapid collection and detection of cancer cells is explored in detail and with an explanation of the procedure and modifications done to improve the system of cancer research. Current methods for leukemia diagnosis apply combinations of bone marrow and peripheral blood cytochemical analyses. Peripheral analyses include, karyotyping, immunophenotyping by flow, cytometry/microarray, and amplification of malignant cell mutations by PCR. Immunophenotypic analyses of leukemia cells use antibody probes to exploit the variation of specific surface antigens in order to tell the difference between normal and malignant cells. The†¦show more content†¦The experiment seemed both challenging and informative yielding interesting results. Rubpy nanoparticles were stored at room temperature and were dispersed in cell media buffer at a final concentration of ∠¼10 mg/ mL. Magnetic Nanoparticle Synthesis. The aptamer-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles were then incubated with the target cells for 5 min unless specified otherwise. Cells were dispersed in 500  µL of cell media buffer and centrifuged at 920 rpm for 5 min three times and were then redispersed in 200  µL of media buffer. Cells were washed by magnetic extraction with 500  µL of media buffer three times and redispersed in 20  µL of buffer for imaging and 200  µL of buffer for flow cytometric and collection efficiency analyses. All pure sample experiments started with 1.0 105-5.0 105 cells before nanoparticle incubation. To determine the extraction and detection capabilities in an artificial complex sample, equal amounts of CEM and Ramos cells were mixed and tested using the assay. Approximately 105 cells of each type were mixed, followed by magnetic and fluorescent nanoparticle incubation for 5 min. Magnetic extraction procedures were performed three times to remove unbound cells. To show applicability in real biological samples, whole blood was spiked with 105 CEM cells. For efficiency studies, cell samples subjected to nanoparticle incubation and magnetic extractions were compared to samples not subjected to any separations by magnetic extraction. For pure cell