Disposable microfluidic chip embedded core/shell nylon6/protein corona immunofiber mats for analysis of circulating tumor cell attachment behavior in preclinical trials

Abstract

When body fluids come into contact with a fibrous mat, proteins spontaneously adsorb onto the surface, forming a protein corona that masks the original antibody on the surface and significantly reduces the targeting performance. Nylon6 (N6) containing curcumin and a cross-linked protein corona hydrogel were used as the shell and core, respectively, to prepare protein corona-camouflaged immunofiber mats (PIFMs) using coaxial electrospinning for the enrichment of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). A low dosage (1.2 wt%) of curcumin within the N6 reduces the outspread pseudopodia area and enhances the capture capacity of CTCs. The fibrous mat was adhered within a disposable microfluidic chip to investigate the capture capacities of CTCs. The maximum adsorption capacity of CTCs on the PIFMs loaded with curcumin is approximately 26 cells/mm², about 2-fold higher than that on the blank PIFMs (12 cells/mm²). The outer protein corona hydrogel coating not only effectively enhances the antibiofouling properties and cell viability but also significantly decreases hemolysis. In spiked blood samples, our PIFMs loaded with curcumin exhibited a 90.1 % isolation efficiency in a continuous system at a flow rate of 8 mL/hour from the 10 mL blood samples containing 100 CTCs. Our proposed method provides an ideal fibrous mat to embed within a microfluidic chip to analyze CTCs attachment behavior for precise diagnosis in cancer treatment.