Amplified electrochemiluminescence detection of cancer cells using a new bifunctional quantum dot as signal probe.

In this work, we prepared a new electrochemiluminescent signal probe using a small bifunctional composite quantum dot (QD) with intense electrochemiluminescence (ECL) and excellent magnetic property, and developed a sensitive ECL biosensor for detection of cancer cells via DNA cyclic amplification technique. The graphene oxide (GO) with unique electrical properties was used as nano-amplified platform to immobilize a large number of capture DNA (c-DNA1). The endonuclease-assisted amplification technique was applied to amplify the ECL signal change induced by target cells. Specifically, the bifunctional composite QDs with excellent magnetic property can be conveniently labeled, separated, and developed the ECL signal probe, thus an ECL method for rapid and sensitive detection of cancer cells was developed. So far, it is for the first time that the small magnetic electrochemiluminescent QDs were applied to the assays of cancer cells by using amplification strategy, which is expected to have great potential for early clinical diagnosis of cancer.