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Biosensors
Volume 16
Issue 1
10.3390/bios16010002
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Ultra-High-Frequency-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Biosensor to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Cancer Stem Cells

by
Elodie Barthout
1,†,
Elisa Lambert
2,†,
Stéphanie Durand
1,
Céline Hervieu
1,
Léa Ikhlef
1,
Sofiane Saada
1,
Rémi Manczak
2,
Julie Pannequin
3,
Arnaud Pothier
2,
Claire Dalmay
2,
Fabrice Lalloué
1,†,
Muriel Mathonnet
1,4,† and
Barbara Bessette
1,*,†
1
UMR INSERM 1308 CAPTuR, University of Limoges, 87025 Limoges, France
2
UMR CNRS 7252 XLIM, University of Limoges, 87060 Limoges, France
3
UMR 5203 INSERM/CNRS, Institute of Functional Genomics, University of Montpellier, 34094 Montpellier, France
4
Department of General, Endocrine and Digestive Surgery, University Hospital of Limoges, 87025 Limoges, France
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Biosensors 2026, 16(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16010002
Submission received: 2 October 2025 / Revised: 24 November 2025 / Accepted: 2 December 2025 / Published: 19 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidics for Biomedical Applications (3rd Edition))
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Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) remain challenging to isolate and characterize because of their plastic phenotype. To overcome this issue, we used a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip analysis approach based on ultra-high frequency dielectophoresis (UHF-DEP) to measure the dielectrophoretic signature of colorectal cancer cells. We demonstrated that CSCs exhibit a distinct and lower frequency signature than differentiated cancer cells. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by tumor cells are implicated in tumor progression and metastasis. As CSC-derived EVs carry a more aggressive cargo, we hypothesized that treating differentiated colorectal cancer cells with these vesicles might affect their phenotype which would be detected by our lab on a chip. Indeed, the dielectrophoretic signature of cells treated with those EVs was altered in comparison to untreated cells, even in cases where no detectable biological changes were observed. Compared to conventional approaches using biomarkers to characterize CSCs, this UHF-DEP lab on a chip is a label-free method providing rapid and relevant results. Such a method could be useful in the clinic for the early detection of CSCs in the tumor mass, as well as for monitoring CSC-derived EVs in the bloodstream in order to study responses to therapy and prevent relapses.
Keywords: colorectal cancer; cancer stem cells; extracellular vesicles; high frequency dielectrophoresis; microfluidic; lab-on-a-chip; point-of-care testing; biomedical applications colorectal cancer; cancer stem cells; extracellular vesicles; high frequency dielectrophoresis; microfluidic; lab-on-a-chip; point-of-care testing; biomedical applications
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MDPI and ACS Style

Barthout, E.; Lambert, E.; Durand, S.; Hervieu, C.; Ikhlef, L.; Saada, S.; Manczak, R.; Pannequin, J.; Pothier, A.; Dalmay, C.; et al. Ultra-High-Frequency-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Biosensor to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Cancer Stem Cells. Biosensors 2026, 16, 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16010002

AMA Style

Barthout E, Lambert E, Durand S, Hervieu C, Ikhlef L, Saada S, Manczak R, Pannequin J, Pothier A, Dalmay C, et al. Ultra-High-Frequency-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Biosensor to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Cancer Stem Cells. Biosensors. 2026; 16(1):2. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16010002

Chicago/Turabian Style

Barthout, Elodie, Elisa Lambert, Stéphanie Durand, Céline Hervieu, Léa Ikhlef, Sofiane Saada, Rémi Manczak, Julie Pannequin, Arnaud Pothier, Claire Dalmay, and et al. 2026. "Ultra-High-Frequency-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Biosensor to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Cancer Stem Cells" Biosensors 16, no. 1: 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16010002

APA Style

Barthout, E., Lambert, E., Durand, S., Hervieu, C., Ikhlef, L., Saada, S., Manczak, R., Pannequin, J., Pothier, A., Dalmay, C., Lalloué, F., Mathonnet, M., & Bessette, B. (2026). Ultra-High-Frequency-Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Biosensor to Detect the Transformation Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Cancer Stem Cells. Biosensors, 16(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16010002

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