Permselective glucose sensing with GLUT1-rich cancer cell membranes

Abstract

Enzymatic blood glucose detection with selectivity is one of the most important conundrums, because human blood contains many components that can hinder enzyme-substrate reactions. Meanwhile, cancer cells express much higher levels of glucose transporter-1 on their cell membrane to selectively and excessively uptake more alpha-D-glucose than do normal cells. Inspired by such cellular permselectivity for glucose, herein we significantly improved the selectivity of a glucose sensor by using a breast cancer cell membrane (BCCM). The BCCM was extracted from MDA-MB-231 cells and coated onto an enzyme-deposited electrode via a vesicle fusion method. We investigated BCCM-coated sensors using ATR-FTIR, SEM, AFM, and cyclic voltammetry. The exceptional permselectivity of BCCM-coated sensors was validated using glucose solutions containing various interfering molecules (e.g., D-( - )-fructose, D-( + )-xylose, D-( + )-maltose, L-cysteine, L-ascorbic acid, and uric acid) and human serum (4.35-7.35 mM of glucose), implying their high potential for practical use.