Highly sensitive identification of cancer cells by combining the new tetrathiafulvalene derivative with a β-cyclodextrin/multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified GCE

Abstract

In this contribution, we have prepared and explored a novel nano-interface based probe for the rapid identification and highly sensitive detection of cancer cells by means of an electrochemical study. The new probe tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) carboxylate salt (TTF-(COONBu₄)₂, ditetrabutylammonium salt for propylenedithio-4′,5′-tetrathiafulvalene-4,5-dicarboxylate), which has specific spectral and electrochemical properties, has been synthesized and assembled with carbon nanotubes to form a new type of nanocomposite. A simple method of fabricating the β-CD/MWCNT modified electrodes based on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) has been explored by using glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs), which could remarkably enhance the sensitivity of the biomolecular detection. Our results demonstrate that the combination of the new probe TTF-(COONBu₄)₂ with β-CD/MWCNT modified electrodes could be readily utilized to sensitively detect cancer cells such as liver cancer cells SMMC-7721 and HepG2, drug sensitive leukemia K562/B.W cells and drug resistant leukemia K562/ADM cells, with a detection limit of ∼10³ cells mL⁻¹. This may provide a novel strategy for the potential and promising application of the new TTF molecular probe in the development of multi-signal responsive biosensors for the early diagnosis of cancers.