Proteolytic enzymes expressed by circulating tumor cells are proved to facilitate their invasion into multiple organs via cleaving natural ECM networks, leading to consequent metastasis colonization and malignant lethality. Recent evidence suggests the rare metastasis initiating cells with higher proteolytic levels among circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may strongly increase the risk of metastasis. Beyond selective CTC capture, the heterogeneity in proteases expression provides a promising indicator for metastasis happening. To this end, the graphene oxide (GO) honeycomb microarray with single CTC matched sizes is fabricated via the self‐assembly breath figure approach, which serves as an integrated protocol for selective CTC capture and single‐cell analysis of protease activity. Contributing to synergistic effects of structure and chemistry, CTCs can be efficiently isolated and individually trapped in each honeycomb hole. Meanwhile, the crosstalk among CTCs can be erased by blocking direct cell‐to‐cell contact, which offers promising potentials in the single‐cell analysis of protease expression. Integrating specific capture and in situ analysis of single CTCs on GO micropatterned surface is of significant importance in various biological and clinical applications such as cancer diagnostics and cancer therapeutic evaluation.

中文翻译：

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自组装的GO蜂窝微阵列，用于选择性癌细胞捕获和蛋白水解表达的单细胞分析。

循环肿瘤细胞表达的蛋白水解酶被证明可通过裂解天然ECM网络促进其侵入多个器官，从而导致转移定植和恶性致死率。最近的证据表明，循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）中具有较高蛋白水解水平的罕见转移起始细胞可能会大大增加转移的风险。除选择性CTC捕获外，蛋白酶表达的异质性为转移发生提供了有希望的指标。为此，通过自组装呼吸图方法制造了具有单个CTC匹配大小的氧化石墨烯（GO）蜂窝微阵列，该方法可作为选择性CTC捕获和蛋白酶活性单细胞分析的集成协议。有助于结构和化学的协同作用，CTC可以被有效地隔离，并分别困在每个蜂窝孔中。同时，可以通过阻止直接的细胞间接触来消除CTC之间的串扰，这在蛋白酶表达的单细胞分析中提供了有希望的潜力。在GO微图案化表面上整合单个CTC的特异性捕获和原位分析在各种生物学和临床应用（例如癌症诊断和癌症治疗评估）中具有重要意义。