Ultrasensitive quantification of tumor mRNAs in extracellular vesicles with an integrated microfluidic digital analysis chip.

ABSTRACT: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) present a promising liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis. However, it remains a daunting challenge to quantitatively measure molecular contents of EVs including tumor-associated mRNAs. Herein, we report a configurable microwell-patterned microfluidic digital analysis platform combined with a dual-probe hybridization assay for PCR-free, single-molecule detection of specific mRNAs in EVs. The microwell array in our device is configurable between the flow-through assay mode for enhanced hybridization capture and tagging of mRNAs and the digital detection mode based on femtoliter-scale enzymatic signal amplification for single-molecule counting of surface-bound targets. Furthermore, a dual-probe hybridization assay has been developed to enhance the sensitivity of the

SUBMITTER: Zhang P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310142 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature