Université de Fribourg

Detection of HER2+ breast cancer cells using bioinspired DNA-based signal amplification

Rafiee, Sarah D. ; Kocabey, Samet ; Mayer, Michael ; List, Jonathan ; Rüegg, Curzio

In: ChemMedChem, 2020, vol. 15, no. 8, p. 661-666

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are promising biomarkers for metastatic cancer detection and monitoring progression. However, detection of CTCs remains challenging due to their low frequency and heterogeneity. Herein, we report a bioinspired approach to detect individual cancer cells, based on a signal amplification cascade using a programmable DNA hybridization chain reaction (HCR) circuit. We...

Université de Fribourg

A bio-inspired amplification cascade for the detection of rare cancer cells

Rüegg, Curzio ; Reis, Corine ; Rafiee, Sarah ; Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; List, Jonathan ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Mayer, Michael ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 2019, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 63–68

The main cause of cancer-related death is due to cancer cell spreading and formation of secondary tumors in distant organs, the so-called metastases. Metastatic cancer cells are detectable in the blood of cancer patients as circulating tumor cells (CTC) and may be exploited for prognostic and monitoring purposes, including in breast cancer. Due to their very low frequency, however, their...

Université de Fribourg

Templated assembly of pore-forming peptides in lipid membranes

Fennouri, Aziz ; List, Jonathan ; Dupasquier, Jessica ; Haeni, Laetitia ; Vanni, Stefano ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Mayer, Michael

In: CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 2019, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 59–62

Pore-forming peptides are of interest due to their antimicrobial activity and ability to form gateways through lipid membranes. Chemical modification of these peptides makes it possible to arrange several peptide monomers into well-defined pore-forming structures using various templating strategies. These templated super-structures can exert antimicrobial activity at significantly lower total...