Single-walled carbon nanotubes as specific targeting and Raman spectroscopic agents for detection and discrimination of single human breast cancer cells

• Published in: Journal of biomedical optics 2013-05, Vol.18 (5), p.055003-055003
• Main Authors: Nima, Zeid A, Mahmood, Meena W, Karmakar, Alokita, Mustafa, Thikra, Bourdo, Shawn, Xu, Yang, Biris, Alexandru S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antigens; Antigens, Neoplasm - chemistry; Antigens, Neoplasm - metabolism; Biomarkers, Tumor - chemistry; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Breast; Breast Neoplasms - chemistry; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Cancer; Cell adhesion; Cell Adhesion Molecules - chemistry; Cell Adhesion Molecules - metabolism; Cell Line; Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; In vitro testing; Linearity; MCF-7 Cells; Nanostructure; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Single wall carbon nanotubes; Single-Cell Analysis - methods; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods
• ISSN: 1083-3668; 1560-2281
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.18.5.055003

Raman active nano-complex agents based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are prepared and used for the swift and specific detection of breast cancer cells. SWCNTs are functionalized to bond covalently with the anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (anti-EpCAM) antibody, which is specific to the highly expressed EpCAM antigen on the surface of breast cancer cells (MCF-7), but not on normal cells. The Raman nano-complexes demonstrate excellent ability to detect in vitro single breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and discriminate between them and normal fibroblast cells during the first 30 min of the targeting process. Raman linearity scanning is collected from a monolayer cell mixture, including both cancer cells and normal cells incubated with anti-EpCAM-SWCNTs, using a 633-nm laser excitation. The results shows that the Raman signal collected from targeted MCF-7 cells is extremely high, whereas there is little signal from the normal cells.