Fast enrichment and detection of circulating tumor cells from large volumes of whole blood of breast cancer patients utilizing a functionalized bioaffinity CTC filtration membrane.

ABSTRACT: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are valuable liquid biopsy analytes as they facilitate an in-depth characterization of disseminated tumors by a simple blood draw. Most CTC assays can only process limited blood volumes, potentially hampering the detection of cells of very low frequency, such as CTCs. Here, we introduce a novel, functionalized nickel filtration membrane, facilitating rapid enrichment of CTCs from various volumes of blood up to 40 mL and leukapheresis products. We validated this assay with different cancer cell lines and compared the performance of our new assay with that of the FDA-cleared CellSearch® system. Performing a comparative analysis of 20 blood samples from patients with metastatic breast cancer, CTCs were found in 19/20 patients (95%), combining the results of both

SUBMITTER: Ott LF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12811197 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature