Construction of a Multiple-Aptamer-Based DNA Logic Device on Live Cell Membranes via Associative Toehold Activation for Accurate Cancer Cell Identification

The ability to accurately identify and isolate cells is the cornerstone of precise disease diagnosis and therapies. A single-step cell identification method based on logic analysis of multiple surface markers will have unique advantages because of its accuracy and efficacy. Herein, using multiple DNA aptamers for cancer biomarker recognition and associative toehold activation for signal integration and amplification as two molecular keys, we have successfully operated a cell-surface device that can perform AND Boolean logic analysis of multiple biomarkers and precisely label the target cell subtype in large populations of similar cells via the presence or absence of different biomarkers. Our approach can achieve single-step cancer cell identification and isolation with excellent sensitivity and accuracy and thus will have broad applications in biological science, biomedical engineering, and personalized medicine.