Acoustic wave based biosensor to study electroacoustic based detection of progressive (SW-48) colon cancer cells from primary (HT-29) cells

A travelling surface acoustic wave (TSAW) biosensor on a LiNbO3 piezoelectric substrate is designed and fabricated to study the proliferation of HT-29 and SW-48 cancer cells. The device integrates double interdigital transducers (IDTs) in which the travelling SAW (TSAW) is operating at around 10.3-MHz-centered medical band. The experiments were carried out using label free method, with and without the presence of cell media culture, primary (HT-29) and progressive (SW-48) colon cancer cells. It was noted that at the presence of cancer cells, the sensor response was considerably altered, mostly due to the electroacoustic effect. However, presence of the culture media solution did not have a considerable impact on the frequency response of the biosensors in respect to cells attachment situation. The resonance peaks at the presence of HT-29 cells had fewer shifts toward lower frequencies, compared to SW-48 cells, because of the lower amount of negative electrical charges acquired over the membrane of HT-29 cells. Finite-element analysis (FEA) using COMSOL Multiphysics® software package is carried out. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is suggested that using the proposed biosensor is a promising path to detect the proliferation of cancer cells.