Construction of a Robust Entropy-Driven DNA Nanomachine for Single-Molecule Detection of Rare Cancer Cells

Accurate and sensitive detection of rare cancer cells such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has attracted great interest in the fields of clinical diagnosis and cancer research. However, the reported methods for cancer cell detection often involve a complicated platform and laborious procedures with a limited sensitivity. Herein, we construct a new entropy-driven DNA nanomachine for single-molecule detection of rare cancer cells. This assay employs the entropy-driven DNA nanomachine for efficient cancer cell recognition and signal amplification without the involvement of any expensive and unstable antibodies and enzymes, and it enables one-step detection of living cancer cells with high sensitivity and good specificity. This DNA nanomachine can be further applied for rare CTC detection in whole blood samples.