Towards nonspecific detection of malignant cervical cells with fluorescent silica beads**

摘要

To date, the methods of detection of cancer cells have been mostly based on traditional techniques used in biology, such as visual identification of malignant changes, cell growth analysis, specific ligand-receptor labeling, or genetic tests. Despite being well developed, these methods are either insufficiently accurate or require a lengthy complicated analysis. A search for alternative methods for the detection of cancer cells may be a fruitful approach. Here we proposed a novel method for detection of cancer cells in vitro, which is based on non-specific adhesion of silica beads to cells. First, we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study adhesion of single silica beads to malignant and normal cells cultured from human cervix. We found that adhesion depends on the time of contact, and can be statistically different for malignant and normal cells. Using these data, we develop an optical method utilizing fluorescent silica beads. The method is based on the detection of difference in the number of adherent particles. The method has been tested using primary cells cultured from cervical tissues of three healthy individuals and three patients with cervical cancer. The method shows sufficiently high sensitivity for cancer to make it interesting to perform further statistical tests.