Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis of Chromosomal and Monogenic Disease by a Novel Bioinspired Micro-Nanochip for Isolating Fetal Nucleated Red Blood Cells.

Purpose: Fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs) in the peripheral blood of pregnant women contain comprehensive fetal genetic information, making them an ideal target for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD). However, challenges in identifying, enriching, and detecting fNRBCs limit their diagnostic potential.

Methods: To overcome these obstacles, we developed a novel biomimetic chip, replicating the micro-nano structure of red rose petals on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

Lymph node metastasis diagnosis of postoperative OSCC patients by analyzing extracellular vesicles in drainage fluid based on microfluidic isolation.

Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a typical marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) indicating poor prognosis. Pathological examination by artificial image acquisition and analysis, as the main diagnostic method for LNM, often takes a week or longer which may cause great anxiety of the patient and also retard timely treatment. However, there are few efficient fast LNM diagnosis methods in clinical applications currently.

Hybrid Cellular Nanovesicles Block PD-L1 Signal and Repolarize M2 Macrophages for Cancer Immunotherapy.

The PD1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blocking is a promising therapy, while immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and poor tumor penetration of therapeutic antibodies limit its efficacy. Repolarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) offers a potential method to ameliorate immunosuppression of TME and further boost T cell antitumor immunity. Herein, hybrid cell membrane biomimetic nanovesicles (hNVs) are developed by fusing M1 macrophage-derived nanovesicles (M1-NVs) and PD1-overexpressed tumor cell-derived nanovesicles (PD1-NVs) to improve cancer immunotherapy.

Genetically Engineered Cytomembrane Nanovaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Cancer nanovaccines have attracted widespread attention by inducing potent cytotoxic T cell responses to improve immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, while the lack of co-stimulatory molecules limits their clinical applications. Here, a genetically engineered cancer cytomembrane nanovaccine is reported that simultaneously overexpresses co-stimulatory molecule CD40L and immune checkpoint inhibitor PD1 to elicit robust antitumor immunity for cancer immunotherapy. The CD40L and tumor antigens inherited from cancer cytomembranes effectively stimulate dendritic cell (DC)-mediated immune activation of cytotoxic T cells, while the PD1 on cancer cytomembranes significantly blocks PD1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, synergistically stimulating antitumor immune responses.

Vesicular Antibodies: Shedding Light on Antibody Therapeutics with Cell Membrane Nanotechnology.

The high stability of antibodies and their ability to precisely bind to antigens and endogenous immune receptors, as well as their susceptibility to protein engineering, enable antibody-based therapeutics to be widely applied in cancer, inflammation, infection, and other disorders. Nevertheless, the application of traditional antibody-based therapeutics has certain limitations, such as high price, limited permeability, and protein engineering complexity. Recent breakthroughs in cell membrane nanotechnology have deepened the understanding of the critical role of membrane protein receptors in disease treatment, enabling vesicular-antibody-based therapeutics.

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis targeting fetal nucleated red blood cells.

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) aims to detect fetal-related genetic disorders before birth by detecting markers in the peripheral blood of pregnant women, holding the potential in reducing the risk of fetal birth defects. Fetal-nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs) can be used as biomarkers for NIPD, given their remarkable nature of carrying the entire genetic information of the fetus. Here, we review recent advances in NIPD technologies based on the isolation and analysis of fNRBCs.

Microfluidics-Assisted Fluorescence Mapping of DNA Phosphorothioation.

As the key player of a new restriction modification system, DNA phosphorothioate (PT) modification, which swaps oxygen for sulfur on the DNA backbone, protects the bacterial host from foreign DNA invasion. The identification of PT sites helps us understand its physiological defense mechanisms, but accurately quantifying this dynamic modification remains a challenge. Herein, we report a simple quantitative analysis method for optical mapping of PT sites in the single bacterial genome.

Neutrophil membrane-coated immunomagnetic nanoparticles for efficient isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells.

The isolation and analysis of scarce circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with immunomagnetic nanoparticles (IMNs) have shown promising outcomes in noninvasive cancer diagnosis. However, the IMNs adsorb nonspecific proteins after entering into biofluids and the formed protein coronas cover surface targeting ligands, limiting the detection efficiency of IMNs. In addition, the interaction between surface targeting ligands and white blood cells (WBCs) significantly limits the purity of CTCs isolated by IMNs.

Noninvasive Optical Isolation and Identification of Circulating Tumor Cells Engineered by Fluorescent Microspheres.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare, meaning that current isolation strategies can hardly satisfy efficiency and cell biocompatibility requirements, which hinders clinical applications. In addition, the selected cells require immunofluorescence identification, which is a time-consuming and expensive process. Here, we developed a method to simultaneously separate and identify CTCs by the integration of optical force and fluorescent microspheres.

A light-induced hydrogel responsive platform to capture and selectively isolate single circulating tumor cells.

Isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from patients is a challenge due to the rarity of CTCs. Recently, various platforms to capture and release CTCs for downstream analysis have been developed. However, most of the reported release methods provide external stimuli to release all captured cells, which lead to lack of specificity in the pool of collected cells, and the external stimuli may affect the activity of the released cells.

Emerging Microfluidic Technologies for the Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells and Fetal Nucleated Red Blood Cells.

Blood tests have been a powerful tool for the clinical analysis of many diseases. With the advances in microfluidic technology, two more specific indicators from the circulation system, namely, emerging "liquid biopsy" of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs), can be screened and analyzed as a simple blood test for the noninvasive diagnosis of cancers as well as fetal disorders. The unique feature of precisely manipulating a trace of fluid endows microfluidic devices with the ability to isolate CTCs or fNRBCs from numerous blood cells with high performance, which undoubtedly facilitates biomedical applications of these two kinds of rare cells.

FA/MA Cation Exchange for Efficient and Reproducible Tin-Based Perovskite Solar Cells.

Nontoxic tin-based perovskite solar cells (Sn-PSCs) as a promising alternative to toxic Pb-PSCs have drawn great attention in recent years for their environmental friendliness and unique optoelectronic properties. However, both the efficiency and long-term stability of Sn-PSCs are considerably inferior to those of Pb-based ones. One of the main reasons is the difficulty in obtaining high-quality Sn-perovskite films due to the rapid crystallization of Sn-perovskites, which also results in poor device reproducibility.

The isolation and analysis of fetal nucleated red blood cells using multifunctional microbeads with a nanostructured coating toward early noninvasive prenatal diagnostics.

Prenatal diagnostics holds great significance for pregnant women desiring healthy babies. Fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs), bearing the complete genome of the fetus, have been regarded as an important biomarker for noninvasive prenatal diagnostics (NIPD). The high-performance detection and enrichment of fNRBCs from maternal blood, especially during early pregnancy, is urgently needed for NIPD, which, unfortunately, remains a big challenge for early-pregnancy fNRBC isolation.

Enhanced Isolation of Fetal Nucleated Red Blood Cells by Enythrocyte-Leukocyte Hybrid Membrane-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Noninvasive Pregnant Diagnostics.

Fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs) in maternal peripheral blood containing the whole genetic information of the fetus may serve for noninvasive pregnant diagnostics (NIPD). However, the fetal cell-based NIPD is seriously limited by the poor purity of the isolated fNRBCs. Recently, the biomimetic cell membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles containing outstanding features have been widely used to detect and isolate rare cells from the peripheral blood samples.

Highly biocompatible and recyclable biomimetic nanoparticles for antibiotic-resistant bacteria infection.

Increasing number of resistant bacteria have emerged with the overuse of antibiotics, which indicates that the bacterial infection has become a global challenge. Furthermore, the pollution of antibiotics to the environment has become a serious threat to public health. It is known that toxins produced by bacteria are the main cause of bacterial infections.

Electrophoretic Deposited Black Phosphorus on 3D Porous Current Collectors to Regulate Li Nucleation for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anodes.

Li metal is considered a highly desirable anode for next-generation high-energy-density rechargeable lithium batteries. However, irregular Li dendrite formation and infinite relative volume changes prevent the commercial adoption of Li-metal anodes. Here, electrophoretic deposition of black phosphorus (BP) on commercial Cu foam (BP@Cu foam) is reported to regulate Li nucleation for the first time.

High-throughput isolation of fetal nucleated red blood cells by multifunctional microsphere-assisted inertial microfluidics.

Being easy, safe and reliable, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) has been greatly pursued in recent years. Holding the complete genetic information of the fetus, fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs) are viewed as a suitable target for NIPD application. However, effective separating fNRBCs from maternal peripheral blood for clinic use still faces great challenges, given that fNRBCs are extremely rare in maternal blood circulation.

Electrospun degradable Zn-Mn oxide hierarchical nanofibers for specific capture and efficient release of circulating tumor cells.

Constructing biological affinity devices is considered as an effective strategy for isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and electrospun nanofibers (ESNFs) have recently received attention. However, the current research focuses on polymer fibers, and fabricating stimuli-responsive inorganic nanofibers for cancer diagnosis and analysis is still challenging. In this work, Zn-Mn oxide nanofibers (ZnMnNFs) are used to capture and purify cancer cells after modification with specific antibodies.

Mechanical Distension Induces Serotonin Release from Intestine as Revealed by Stretchable Electrochemical Sensing.

The role of endogenous serotonin (5-HT) in gastrointestinal motility is still highly controversial. Although electrochemical techniques allow for direct and real-time recording of biomolecules, the dynamic monitoring of 5-HT release from elastic and tubular intestine during motor reflexes remains a great challenge because of the specific peristalsis patterns and inevitable passivation of the sensing interface. A stretchable sensor with antifouling and decontamination properties was assembled from gold nanotubes, titanium dioxide nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes.

ZnO nanowire-integrated bio-microchips for specific capture and non-destructive release of circulating tumor cells.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are one type of significant biomarker in cancer patients' blood that have been attracting attention from researchers for decades, and their efficient and viable isolation is of vital importance in cancer prevention and treatment. However, the development of efficient and low-cost bio-microchips still faces significant challenges. In this paper, we construct a novel three-dimensional micro-nano bio-microchip that has dual functions of specifically capturing and non-destructively releasing cancer cells.

An Acoustic Droplet-Induced Enzyme Responsive Platform for the Capture and On-Demand Release of Single Circulating Tumor Cells.

The recovery of rare single circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from patients has great potential to facilitate the study of cell heterogeneity and cancer metastasis, which may promote the development of individualized cancer immunotherapy. Herein, a versatile single-cell recovery approach that utilizes an acoustic droplet-induced enzyme responsive platform for the capture and on-demand release of single CTCs is proposed. The platform combines a multifunctional enzyme-responsive gelatin nanoparticle (GNP)-decorated substrate (GNP-chip) for specific capture with an acoustic droplet positioning technique to realize on-demand release of single CTCs.

Biomimetic Immunomagnetic Nanoparticles with Minimal Nonspecific Biomolecule Adsorption for Enhanced Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells.

Immunomagnetic micro/nanoparticles (IMNs) have been widely used to isolate rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples for early diagnosis of cancers. However, when entering into biofluids, IMNs nonspecifically adsorb biomolecules and the in situ formed biomolecule corona covers IMN surface ligands and weakens the targeting capabilities of IMNs. In this work, we demonstrated that by surface coating of IMNs with red blood cell (RBC)-derived vesicles, the obtained biomimetic particles (RBC-IMNs) basically adsorb no biomolecules and maintain the CTC targeting ability when exposed to plasma.

Capture and "self-release" of circulating tumor cells using metal-organic framework materials.

Capturing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood for subsequent analyses has shown potential in precision medicine for cancer patients. Broad as the prospect is, there are still some challenges that hamper its clinical applications. One of the challenges is to maintain the viability of the captured cells during the capturing and releasing processes.

TiO nanopillar arrays coated with gelatin film for efficient capture and undamaged release of circulating tumor cells.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are important for the detection and treatment of cancer. Nevertheless, a low density of circulating tumor cells makes the capture and release of CTCs an obstacle. In this work, TiO nanopillar arrays coated with gelatin film were synthesized for efficient capture and undamaged release of circulating tumor cells.