DNA-gold nanoparticle conjugates-based nanoplasmonic probe for specific differentiation of cell types

The direct analysis of cancerous cells provides a new way for cancer detection that obviates cell lysis and other tedious steps (e.g., enrichment, purification, and amplification steps). However, the analysis of different cell types remains challenging due to the subtle differences in cell surface features. Here, we have demonstrated nanoplasmonic differentiation of cell types by using DNA-gold nanoparticle nanoconjugates (DNA-AuNPs). Our strategy relies on cross reactive receptors (a collection of DNA-AuNPs) that are employed to bind the different cells that produce fingerprint-like patterns for each type of cell. Because of the enhanced nanoplasmonic effect of AuNPs via seeded-growth, we could effectively differentiate various cell lines, e.g., 786-O, L929, Hela, and RAW264.7, with dark-field microscopy or even naked eyes.