Application of Au cage/Ru(bpy)32+ nanostructures for the electrochemiluminescence detection of K562 cancer cells based on aptamer

In this work, an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) cytosensor for ultrasensitive and selective cytosensing of K562 cancer cells was developed. Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs) dotted carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was immobilized on the working electrode which can not only improve the electronic transmission rate but also increase the surface area. And aptamers modified electrode was employed for specific and efficient cancer cell capture. A new class of nanoprobes were also prepared by integrating the functions of specific recognition of concanavalin A (Con A) and signal amplification of Au cage/Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) nanostructures. With a sandwich-type cytosensor format, the amount of Au cage/Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-labeled Con A increased with the increment of K562 cancer cells in the samples, resulting in the increase of ECL signals. The as-proposed cytosensor exhibited excellent analytical performance toward the cytosensing of K562 cells in a wide detection linear range from 500 to 5.0 x 10(6) cells mL(-1) with a detection limit of 500 cells mL(-1). Moreover, the proposed method showed good precision, acceptable stability and reproducibility. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.