A boronate affinity-enhanced and PEGylated cell-imprinted platform for efficient capture of circulating colorectal cancer cells.

[BACKGROUND] Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with metastasis contributing significantly to poor prognosis. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood, a form of liquid biopsy, offers a promising non-invasive strategy for early diagnosis and monitoring. However, existing CTC capture platforms often face limitations such as insufficient specificity, high reagent consumption and irreversible cell adhesion, hindering subsequent analysis. Cancer cells, including CTCs, often express higher level of glycoproteins, which contains cis-diol structure that can bind with boronic acid ligands.

[RESULTS] Using the colon cancer cell line HCT-8 as a template, a novel capture material termed PEGylated Boronate Affinity Cell-Imprinted Polydimethylsiloxane (PBACIP) was developed. The fabricated PBACIP material exhibited complementary cell-shaped cavities embedded with SiO@DFPBA nanoparticles, confirmed by spectroscopic and topographic analyses. The material was systematically characterized using SEM, AFM, FT-IR and contact angle measurement and its capture performance, specificity and applicability were evaluated. PBACIP demonstrated superior capture efficiency for HCT-8 cells compared to control materials, benefiting from the synergistic effect of boronate affinity and physical imprinting. It showed high specificity towards colorectal cancer cells over non-colon cancer cells. In simulated patient blood samples, PBACIP effectively captured rare tumor cells. Crucially, the captured cells could be released viably for subsequent culture and analysis.

[CONCLUSION] We successfully developed a boronate affinity-enhanced, PEGylated cell-imprinted PDMS material for the efficient and specific capture of colorectal cancer CTCs. This platform addressed key limitations of current technologies by combining specific capture, minimal non-specific adsorption and gentle cell release, offering a promising tool for advancing liquid biopsy in CRC diagnosis and monitoring.