Abstract 4893: Microfluidic biochip for the label-free isolation of viablecirculating tumor cells from cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) found in the peripheral blood of metastatic cancer patients are rare and this makes them hard to detect. However, the detection and enumeration of CTCs can potentially be used to indicate the severity of the disease or for prognostic and treatment monitoring purposes. Retrieval of viable CTCs can also aid in the study of the phenotypic and genotypic expressions of cancer cells. We developed an effective label-free detection and isolation of viable CTCs using a microfluidic device that utilizes the unique differences in size and deformability between cancer cells and blood cells. The use of microfluidics also allows the flow conditions to be accurately controlled to achieve an effective and efficient isolation of CTCs. By placing crescent shaped microstructures, termed cell traps, in the path of blood flow in a microchannel, the larger and stiffer CTCs are easily trapped while the blood cells are quickly removed. By reversing the flow, we are able to dislodge and retrieve the trapped CTCs. Using whole blood samples obtained from metastatic lung and kidney cancer patients, we achieved successful detection and separation of CTCs. Here, there is no need for pre-preparation such as staining, tagging or dilution of blood samples as whole blood taken from patient is directly processed in the biochip. The biochip is optically transparent and allows for direct observation using an inverted microscope and for in situ immunofluorescence staining to confirm the presence of CTCs. Here, we successfully demonstrated the detection and isolation of viable CTCs from cancer patients using the differences in size and deformability of cancer cells and blood cells. This CTC separation process is also label free and will address concerns linked to affinity based isolation methods. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4893. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4893