Good Vibration for Cancer Diagnosis

We have reported a cantilever-based diagnosis of cancer by measuring the proteolytic activity of proteinases (i.e. membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase [MT1-MMP]) expressed on live cancer cells based on the resonant cantilevers. The detection principle is the direct transduction of MT1-MMP-driven peptide cleavage on a cantilever surface into the shifts of the resonance of the cantilever. It is shown that cantilever-based bioassay enables the quantification of the expression level of MT1-MMP on cancer cells (or genetically engineered cells) as well as the proteolytic activity of MT1-MMP (or mutant MT1-MMP) extracted from live cancer cells and genetically engineered cells. Our study sheds light on cantilever bioassay for its potential in quantifying the metastasis state of cancer cells.

Our work was published online at Angewandte Chemie. For our article, please click the link (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201108830/abstract) 

Schematics: Detection principles of cantilever-based assay for quantifying the expression level of MT1-MMP as well as the proteolytic activity of MT1-MMP extracted from cancer cells.  

This article is selected as an Inside Back Cover Article at Angewandte Chemie. Cover Art is shown as below:

Cover Descriptions: Active matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs; green missiles in the picture) expressed on a cancer cell surface can be sensed by a resonant cantilever device (satellite arm in the picture) as D. S. Yoon, T. Kwon, and co-workers report in their Communication (DOI:10.1002/anie.201108830). Active MMPs attack the peptide sequence immobilized on the cantilever surface, and the peptide cleavage leads to an increase in the resonant frequency of the cantilever owing to a decrease in the mass of immobilized peptide.