Multichannel Sensor Arrays Based on Surface-Engineered Fluorescent Metal Clusterzymes for Differential Sensing of Cancer Cells

Rapid and effective differentiation of cancerous cells is essential for early diagnosis and treatment of tumors. Here, a multichannel sensor array is developed based on four surface-engineered gold-silver nanoclusters (AuAgNCs) to discriminate multiple cancerous and normal cells. Different binding affinities between various cells and AuAgNCs lead to changes in the intrinsic fluorescence of AuAgNCs as well as their peroxide-like activity. Based on the distinct response of dual fluorescence signals of four AuAgNCs, a multichannel sensor array is established, which is capable of accurately identifying both normal and cancerous cells, even cells of different subtypes and homologous cells from various individuals with high sensitivity. Moreover, this fluorescent clusterzyme-based sensor array enables quantitative detection of cancerous cells (e.g., HeLa cells) with good performance, which holds great potential as a promising platform for further cancer diagnosis.