UHF-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived From Cancer Stem Cells

" Cancer stem cells remain a challenge to isolate and characterize because of their plastic phenotype. Using a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip based on ultra-high frequency dielectophoresis, we measured the electromagnetic signature of colorectal cancer cells and demonstrated that cancer stem cells show a distinct and lower electromagnetic signature than differentiated cells. ... As extracellular vesicles from cancer stem cells carry more aggressive content, we treated colorectal cancer cells with these vesicles to test whether the lab-on-a-chip can detect a change in phenotype. The electromagnetic signature of treated cells is modified in comparison to untreated cells and sometimes even when no biological change is observed." {Credits 1}

" Thus, the last few years, we developed a new label-free approach based on the detection of biophysical cell properties. It consists in measuring the electromagnetic (EM) signature of individual cells by dieletrophoresis (DEP) technique in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) range. A lab-on-a-chip implemented in a microfluidic channel allows the manipulation of individual cells to determine their EM signature called “crossover frequency”. This precise frequency is related to the intracellular content of the characterized cell. CSCs [cancer stem cells] and differentiated cells from brain tumors have already been characterized with this device [21,22] making it an interesting tool for CSCs diagnosis in clinical routine." {Credits 1}

" Here, we reported that CSCs show a lower EM signature than their differentiated counterparts, in both cell lines and primary CRC [colorectal cancer cell] cultures. Moreover, this lab-on-a-chip can detect cellular changes caused by EVs intake that may eventually be missed in biology." {Credits 1}

{Credits 1} 🎪Barthout, É.; Lambert, É.; Hervieu, C.; Saada, S.; Manczak, R.; Pannequin, J.; Pothier, A.; Dalmay, C.; Lalloué, F.; Mathonnet, M.; Bessette, B. UHF-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived From Cancer Stem Cells. Preprints 2022, 2022100276. © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License.