简介：Overthepastdecades,cellsurfacecharge,althoughexperimentallyobserved,hasnotbeenwellunderstoodparticularlyfromtheviewpointofbiophysics.Ourrecentstudieshaveshownthatallcancercellsexhib让negativesurfacechargesthataredirectlyproportionaltothesecretedlacticacid,auniquecancermetaboliccharacteristic:highrateofglycolysis.Wehavethereforedesignedanddevelopedasetofelectrically-charged,fluorescent,andsuper-paramagneticnanoprobes,capableofsensitivedetectionofcancercellsbasedonthesurfacecharges.Theseprobesareutilizedtobindontocellsviaelectrostaticreactionforcaptureandmagneticseparation.Inthisfashion,weareabletocharacterizecellsurfacechargesthatareregulatedbydifferentmetabolicpatterns,thereforeeffectivelydistinguishingthecancercellsfromthenormalcells.All22cancercellsofdifferentorgansarefoundtobenegativelychargedthereforeboundstronglybythepositively-chargednanoprobes,whereasthenormalcellsshowinsignificantbindingtothenanoprobesofeitherchargesigns(positiveornegative).Thisfindingsuggeststhatalltestedcancercellsarenegatively-chargedandnormalcellsareeithercharge-neutralorslightlypositive.Fordiagnosis,cancercellscanbedetected,electrostaticallybound,andmagneticallyseparatedinbloodbychargedandsuper-paramagneticnanoprobes.Intherapeutics,circulatingcancercells(CTCs)canbefilteredandremovedinacontinuousfashiontoreducetheriskofcancermetastasis.Ifsuccessful,thisnewnanotechnologywillrevolutionizeearlycancerdiagnosisandpotentiallyenablenewtherapeuticsinclinicalsettings.