An integrated microfluidic system for screening of peptides specific to cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cancer cell lines using the phage display technology

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a cancer of bile duct, which possesses a high mortality rate and poor prognosis owing to its difficulties in early diagnosis and a lack of effective treatment. To improve the clinical detection, one of promising approaches is to find specific biomarkers to detect CCA cells. However, the existing screening processes are usually time-consuming and lab-intensive. In this study, an integrated microfluidic system was proposed to perform on-chip phage display for selection of specific peptides that could identify CCA cell lines. The results showed that we could perform one panning round within 6 hours and the whole processes could be automated. This microfluidic system may be a powerful tool for screening of affinity agents in the clinical diagnosis and target therapeutics for CCA.