A Novel Optical Fiber Terahertz Biosensor Based on Anti-Resonance for The Rapid and Nondestructive Detection of Tumor Cells

The sensitive and accurate detection of tumor cells is essential for successful cancer therapy and improving cancer survival rates. However, current tumor cell detection technologies have some limitations for clinical applications due to their complexity, low specificity, and high cost. Herein, we describe the design of a terahertz anti-resonance hollow core fiber (THz AR-HCF) biosensor that can be used for tumor cell detection. Through simulation and experimental comparisons, the low-loss property of the THz AR-HCF was verified, and the most suitable fiber out of multiple THz AR-HCFs was selected for biosensing applications. By measuring different cell numbers and different types of tumor cells, a good linear relationship between THz transmittance and the numbers of cells between 10 and 106 was found. Meanwhile, different types of tumor cells can be distinguished by comparing THz transmission spectra, indicating that the biosensor has high sensitivity and specificity for tumor cell detection. The biosensor only required a small amount of sample (as low as 100 μL), and it enables label-free and nondestructive quantitative detection. Our flow cytometry results showed that the cell viability was as high as 98.5 ± 0.26% after the whole assay process, and there was no statistically significant difference compared with the negative control. This study demonstrates that the proposed THz AR-HCF biosensor has great potential for the highly sensitive, label-free, and nondestructive detection of circulating tumor cells in clinical samples.