One switchable affinity peptide, STP, is screened out from a high-throughput library by an integrated imprinting microarray. STP is pH triggered and also the ligand of the marker VEGFR2. Efficient cell recognition and penetration as well as an in vivo image could be “turned on” and accelerated only in the condition of VEGFR2 overexpression and a mild acidic environment.

One switchable nanodelivery system was constructed. Liposomes were functionalized by a novel dual-recognition peptide STP, which is pH-responsive as well as the affinity ligand of tumor marker VEGFR2 (the angiogenesis marker vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2). Efficient drug delivery and in vivo therapy could be “turned on” and accelerated only in the conditions of VEGFR2 overexpression and a mild acidic environment. We envisioned that the successful demonstration of this switchable nanocarrier system would open a new avenue on rapid cytoplasmic delivery for specific cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

We present here a specific targeting nanocarrier system by functionalization of liposomes with one new type of breast cancer targeting peptide (H6, YLFFVFER) by a micromixer with high efficiency. Antitumor drugs could be successfully delivered into human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer cells with high efficiency in both in vivo and ex vivo models.Keywords: Antitumor; HER2; Nanocarrier; YLFFVFER

The early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is challenging due to the lack of reliable methods for detecting its biomarkers in the noninvasive biopsies. We used surface plasmon resonance imaging to identify AD based on the detection of amyloid-beta42 in the serum by the ADP3 peptoid.

Peptides are excellent biointerface molecules and diagnostic probes with many advantages such as good penetration, short turnover time, and low cost. We report here an efficient peptide screening strategy based on in situ single bead sequencing on a microarray. Two novel peptides YLFFVFER (H6) and KLRLEWNR (H10) specifically binding to the tumor biomarker human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) with aKD of 10–8 M were obtained from a 105 library. Conjugated to nanoparticles, both the H6 and H10 probes showed specific accumulation in HER2-positive tumor tissues in xenografted mice by in vivo imaging.

Correction for ‘A continuous flow microfluidic-MS system for efficient OBOC screening’ by Weizhi Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 61767–61770.

Abraxane, an FDA-approved albumin-bound nanoparticle (NP) form of paclitaxel (PTX) to treat breast cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), has been demonstrated to be more effective than the original Taxol, the single molecule form. We have established a cell line from NSCLC A549 cells to be resistant to Abraxane. To further understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the NP drug resistance, global protein expression profiles of Abraxane sensitive (A549) and resistant cells (A549/Abr), along with the treatment of Abraxane, have been obtained by a quantitative proteomic approach. The most significantly differentially expressed proteins are associated with lipid metabolism, cell cycle, cytoskeleton, apoptosis pathways and processes, suggesting several mechanisms are working synergistically in A549 Abraxane-resistant cells. Overexpression of proteins in the lipid metabolism processes, such as E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase RNF139 (RNF139) and Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGCS1), have not been reported previously in the study of paclitaxel resistance, suggesting possibly different mechanism between nanoparticle and single molecular drug resistance. In particular, RNF139 is one of the most up-regulated proteins in A549 Abraxane-resistant cell line, but remains no change when the resistant cells were further treated with Abraxane and down-regulated in the sensitive cells after 4 h treatment of Abraxane. This study shows the use of a proteomic strategy to understand the unique response of drug resistant cells to a nanoparticle therapeutic.Keywords: Abraxane resistance; E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase RNF139; nanoparticle drug; quantitative proteomics; synergistic mechanisms;

Exosomes are endosome-derived membrane vesicles carrying proteins and nucleic acids that are involved in cellular functions such as intercellular communication, protein and RNA secretion, and antigen presentation. Therefore, exosomes serve as potential biomarkers for many diseases including cancer. Because exosomes are difficult to enrich or purify from biofluids, quantification of exosomes is tedious and inaccurate. Here, we present a real-time, label-free, and quantitative method to detect and characterize tumor-derived exosomes without enrichment or purification. Utilizing surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) in combination with antibody microarrays specific to the extracellular domains of exosome membrane proteins, exosomes in tumor cell culture medium can be quantitatively detected. We found a positive correlation between the metastatic potential of tumor cell lines and exosome secretion. This method provides an easy, efficient, and novel way to detect exosome secretion and thus an avenue toward the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of cancer.

Peptide ligands as targeting probes for in vivo imaging and drug delivery have attracted great interest in the biomedical community. However, high affinity and specificity screening of large peptide libraries remains a tedious process. Here, we report a continuous-flow microfluidic method for one-bead–one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial peptide library screening. We screened a library with 2 × 105 peptide beads within 4 h and discovered 140 noncanonical peptide hits targeting the tumor marker, aminopeptidase N (APN). Using the Clustal algorithm, we identified the conserved sequence Tyr-XX-Tyr in the N terminal. We demonstrated that the novel sequence YVEYHLC peptides have both nanomolar affinity and high specificity for APN in ex vivo and in vivo models. We envision that the successful demonstration of this integrated novel nanotechnology for peptide screening and identification open a new avenue for rapid discovery of new peptide-based reagents for disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

Microfluidics based continuous cell electroporation is an appealing approach for high-throughput cell transfection, but cell viability of existing methods is usually compromised by adverse electrical or hydrodynamic effects. Here we present the validation of a flow-through cell electroporation microchip, in which dielectrophoretic force was employed to sort viable cells. By integrating parallel electroporation electrodes and dielectrophoresis sorting electrodes together in a simple straight microfluidic channel, sufficient electrical pulses were applied for efficient electroporation, and a proper sinusoidal electrical field was subsequently utilized to exclude damaged cells by dielectrophoresis. Thus, the difficulties for seeking the fine balance between electrotransfection efficiency and cell viability were steered clear. After careful investigation and optimization of the DEP behaviors of electroporated cells, efficient electrotransfection of plasmid DNA was demonstrated in vulnerable neuron cells and several hard-to-transfect primary cell types with excellent cell viability. This microchip constitutes a novel way of continuous cell transfection to significantly improve the cell viability of existing methodologies.

Peptide probes and drugs have widespread applications in disease diagnostics and therapy. The demand for peptides ligands with high affinity and high specificity toward various targets has surged in the biomedical field in recent years. The traditional peptide screening procedure involves selection, sequencing, and characterization steps, and each step is manual and tedious. Herein, we developed a bimodal imprint microarray system to embrace the whole peptide screening process. Silver-sputtered silicon chip fabricated with microwell array can trap and pattern the candidate peptide beads in a one-well-one-bead manner. Peptides on beads were photocleaved in situ. A portion of the peptide in each well was transferred to a gold-coated chip to print the peptide array for high-throughput affinity analyses by surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi), and the peptide left in the silver-sputtered chip was ready for in situ single bead sequencing by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Using the bimodal imprint chip system, affinity peptides toward AHA were efficiently screened out from the 7 × 104 peptide library. The method provides a solution for high efficiency peptide screening.

A microfluidic chip based method utilized for effective screening of high-throughput peptide libraries was achieved. Continuous flow bead trapping, sorting, arraying and in situ sequencing was integrated. Peptide library screening with 105 beads was processed within 4 hours and peptide ligands toward the target protein AHA and APN were successfully discovered.

We present a microfluidic synthesizer made entirely of Teflon material for solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Solvent-resistant perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) was used to construct chip-sized devices featuring multiple tri-layer pneumatic microvalves. Using these devices, model peptides were automatically synthesized and cleaved in situ in a continuous-flow manner. The total coupling and cleavage time was significantly reduced compared to conventional bulk reactors. The synthesis of a decapeptide, for instance, took less than 6 h using our device while it usually takes more than three days using conventional reactors.

Voltage scanning surface plasmon resonance (VSSPR) detection is realized by a metal/electro-optic dielectric/metal (MEM) three-layer sensor chip used in a prism-coupled attenuated total reflection (ATR) setup. Sweeping DC voltage is applied and recorded in real time with a fixed incident angle near the resonant angle. The VSSPR curve is defined by the reflected intensity and the applied voltage. It is observed experimentally that the resonant voltage obtained by the centroid method varied linearly with the concentration of the analytes and can be used as a characteristic and quantitative parameter to describe the SPR effect. This method can be used for refractive index detection, and also have potential applications in surface plasmon resonance imaging systems.

A novel peptide (P75) targeting EGFR and HER2 is successfully screened from a one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) library containing approximately 2 × 105 peptides built with the aid of computational simulation. In vitro and in vivo analyses show that P75 binds to human epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) with nanomolar affinity and to epithelial growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) with a lower affinity but comparable to other reported peptides. The peptide is used to modify the surface of magnetosome nanoparticles (NPs) for targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In vitro and in vivo fluorescence imaging results suggest peptide P75 modified magnetosomes (Mag-P75) specifically bind to MDA-MB-468 and SKBR3 cells as well as xenograft tumors with surprisingly low accumulation in other organs including liver and kidney. In vivo T2-weighted MR imaging studies of the xenograft tumors from SKBR3 and MDA-MB-468 cells show obviously negative contrast enhancement. The high affinity and specificity of P75 to EGFR and HER2 positive tumors, together with the success of peptide functionalized magnetosome NPs for targeted MRI demonstrate the potential of this peptide being used in the EGFR and HER2 positive tumors diagnosis and therapy.

The early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is challenging due to the lack of reliable methods for detecting its biomarkers in the noninvasive biopsies. We used surface plasmon resonance imaging to identify AD based on the detection of amyloid-beta42 in the serum by the ADP3 peptoid.

One switchable affinity peptide, STP, is screened out from a high-throughput library by an integrated imprinting microarray. STP is pH triggered and also the ligand of the marker VEGFR2. Efficient cell recognition and penetration as well as an in vivo image could be “turned on” and accelerated only in the condition of VEGFR2 overexpression and a mild acidic environment.