Breast cancer is one of the most critical threats to the health of women, and the development of new methods for early diagnosis is urgently required, so this paper reports a method to detect Michigan cancer foundation-7 (MCF-7) human breast cancer cells with considerable sensitivity and selectivity by using electrochemical technique. In this method, a mucin 1 (MUC1)-binding aptamer is adopted to recognize MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, while enzyme labeling is employed to produce amplified catalytic signals. The molecular recognition and the signal amplification are elaborately integrated by fabricating an aptamer-cell-aptamer sandwich architecture on an electrode surface, thus a biosensor for the detection of MCF-7 is fabricated based on the architecture. The detection range can be from 100 to 1×10(7) cells, and the detection limit can be as low as 100 cells. The method is also cost-effective and conveniently operated, implying potential help for the development of early diagnosis of breast cancer.
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