Dual Stealth Functional Immuno-magnetic Nanoparticles for High-Performance Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells

Asa biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) biopsy, circulatingtumor cells (CTCs) are often used in the diagnosis of cancer and treatmentguidance. For CTCs detection, immuno-magnetic nanoparticles (IMNs)are one of the most commonly used platforms. However, the nonspecificadsorption of proteins and non-tumor cells weakens the performanceof IMNs to capture CTCs. In this work, we developed an IMNs platformwhich was constructed by a biomimetic protein corona precoating anda polyethylene glycol (PEG) spacer to form the PEG and corona-coatedIMNs (IP-CMNs). Due to the dual stealth effect of protein corona precoatingand PEG spacer, the nonspecific protein adsorption and cell bindingof P-CMNs could reduce by & SIM;5.5- and & SIM;5.4-fold, respectively,compared with those of unmodified particles. Furthermore, the PEGspacer could not only reduce the interaction between IP-CMNs and leukocytesbut also enhance the capture performance toward tumor cells. By usingartificial blood samples, the capture efficiency of IP-CMNs towardrare CTCs was found to be 88.3%, while it was 70.5% by using commercialIMNs. Finally, CTCs were successfully isolated in all HCC patientblood samples (7/7) using IP-CMNs. These results provide insight intothe use of the multifunctional nanoplatform as a useful tool for CTCsdetection.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel IMNs platform was developed by biomimetic protein corona precoating and polyethylene glycol (PEG) spacer, forming PEG and corona-coated IMNs (IP-CMNs). The IP-CMNs demonstrated a dual stealth effect, reducing nonspecific protein adsorption and cell binding, and enhancing capture performance towards tumor cells.