Detection of breast cancer cells specially and accurately by an electrochemical method

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers to cause death in the world, and the accurate diagnosis is of great importance to determine the stage of the disease and then to design the suitable therapy. Compared with the traditional detection methods relying on the recognition of only one tumor marker, we herein propose a sensitive electrochemical immunoassay to detect breast cancer cells by simultaneously measuring two co-expressing tumor markers, human mucin-1 and carcinoembryonic antigen on the surface of the cancer cells, which may efficiently improve the accuracy of the detection as well as facilitate the classification of the cancer cells. The experimental results have revealed that well electrochemical response can be observed only under the condition that both of the tumor markers are identified on the surface of the tumor cells. With this method, breast cancer cell MCF-7 can be easily distinguished from other kinds of cells, such as acute leukemia cells CCRF-CEM and normal cells islet beta cells. Moreover, the prepared cytosensor can specially monitor breast cancer cell MCF-7 in a wide range from 104 to 107 cell mL−1 with well reproduction and low detection limit, which may have great potential in clinical applications.