Single-Cell Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells by a Proximity-Enabled Singlet-Oxygen Chemiluminescence Assay
Circulating tumor cell (CTC) assays with single-cell sensitivity and efficient implementation are critically needed in clinic applications, especially for cancer screening. We report a novel proximity-enabled singlet-oxygen chemiluminescence assay (PESCA) that enables low-cost and efficient CTC detection with single-cell sensitivity. The PESCA system is based on proximity labeling of cell-surface oncoprotein markers on CTCs using two types of polymer nanoparticles, one for generating singlet oxygen (<sup>1</sup>O<sub>2</sub>) and the other for activating chemiluminescence upon <sup>1</sup>O<sub>2</sub> sensitization and H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> decaging. A hybridization chain reaction (HCR) is exploited for triggering the proximity labeling, allowing efficient sensitization of the chemiluminescence signal specific to CTCs with signal amplification to enable robust single-cell resolution. The PESCA method can accomplish digital counting of CTCs in a whole blood sample with a detection efficiency of 80% for 10 CTCs in 7.5 mL of whole blood, highlighting its potential for cancer screening in clinic applications.
Authors
- Jian‐Hui Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1594-4023)
- Jishan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8144-361X)
- Daian Chen
- Fei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7600-1945)
- Ting Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5477-7972)
Institutions
- Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CN)
- Central South University (CN)
- Hunan University (CN)
- Institute of Chemical Engineering (BG)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Analytical Chemistry
- Published
- 2025-08-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5c02883
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.61
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China