??　　中文概述：一種芯片大小的器件可以將細(xì)胞表達(dá)的蛋白質(zhì)快速傳遞到質(zhì)譜儀，為早期階段的癌癥提供定量的數(shù)據(jù)信息。

　　由于在信號(hào)傳導(dǎo)期間細(xì)胞產(chǎn)生的許多蛋白質(zhì)是瞬時(shí)的，并且存在的數(shù)量太少，因此并不能被典型的分析儀器檢測(cè)到。美國(guó)布萊克斯堡弗吉尼亞理工大學(xué)Iulia Lazar及其研究者開(kāi)發(fā)了一種微流控系統(tǒng)，通過(guò)將保存在高容量室中的細(xì)胞暴露于橫向流動(dòng)的刺激試劑中，以改善對(duì)這些生物分子的捕獲效果。與沿著樣品室縱向遞送試劑的系統(tǒng)相比，這種裝置完成了更快也更準(zhǔn)確的細(xì)胞蛋白質(zhì)含量質(zhì)譜分析。在乳腺癌細(xì)胞的實(shí)驗(yàn)中，研究團(tuán)隊(duì)在細(xì)胞暴露于有絲分裂觸發(fā)物質(zhì)后的幾分鐘內(nèi)，就能識(shí)別出數(shù)百種參與生長(zhǎng)和分裂過(guò)程的蛋白質(zhì)。

Summary：Chip-scale devices that quickly deliver proteins expressed by cells to mass spectrometers may bring quantitative insights into the early stages of cancer. Many proteins generated by cells during signaling events are transient and present in numbers too small to be detected by typical analytical instruments. Iulia Lazar and colleagues from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, United States have developed a microfluidic system that improves the capture of these biomolecules by exposing cells, held in high-capacity chambers, to a crosswise flow of stimulating agents. This setup yielded faster and more accurate mass spectrometry analysis of the cellular protein content than the systems that delivered agents lengthwise along the sample chambers. Experiments with breast cancer cells enabled the team to identify hundreds of proteins involved in growth and division processes in the few minutes following exposure to mitosis-triggering substances.

Related paper: Microfluidic reactors for advancing the MS analysis of fast biological responses

Microsystems & Nanoengineering 5, Article number: 7 (2019)

doi:10.1038/s41378-019-0048-3