Label-Free and Antibody-Free Wideband Microwave Biosensor for Identifying the Cancer Cells

This study presents a label-free and antibody-free microwave biosensor that uses a coplanar waveguide transmission line with a defined detection window for the dielectric characterization of human hepatoma (HepG2), human lung carcinoma (A549), and human endometrial adenocarcinoma (HEC-1-A) cancer cells. The biosensor is having 40-GHz bandwidth and defining a detection window at the center of the conductor line. The biosensor can rapidly analyze the dielectric properties of cancer cells while eliminating unwanted microwave parasitic effects (including dielectric of cultured medium and substrate material). In addition, an equivalent circuit model for cancer cells was created. The equivalent capacitance C(f)
_cell
and resistance R(f)
_cell
of cancer cells were extracted and calculated. The effects of applying a small amount of RF power (2-4 dBm) to the biosensor were investigated. The R(f)
_cell
and C(f)
_cell
values indicated that applying RF power to the biosensor can damage cancer cells. The biosensor can be applied in in-vitro diagnostics, particularly in the field of prognosis.