FITC-labelled clone from phage display for direct detection of leukemia cells in blood

Discovery of new markers for the identification and discrimination of cell types is one of the principal objectives in cancer diagnostics. In the last years, many researchers used phage-display technology in vitro and in vivo to obtain random peptide probes able to bind towards cancer targets to be used in diagnostic systems and new targeted drug. In this work, we proposed a Single Drop Biosensor based on phage-labelled probes to detect leukaemia cells in blood from patients affected by chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Results show that phage-labelled probes were able to recognize lymphocytes and lymphoblastic cells both in leukemic peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in whole blood from patients affected by CLL. The “proof of concept” proposed, using the phage labelled as bio-probe, could be an alternative way to produce new biosensor for monitoring of chronic pathology. Furthermore the results may have translational relevance for identification and exploring of new ligands directed against cancer hematological cells.