A novel microfluidic platform for size and deformability based separation and the subsequent molecular characterization of viable circulating tumor cells.

ABSTRACT: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were introduced as biomarkers more than 10 years ago, but capture of viable CTCs at high purity from peripheral blood of cancer patients is still a major technical challenge. Here, we report a novel microfluidic platform designed for marker independent capture of CTCs. The Parsortix™ cell separation system provides size and deformability-based enrichment with automated staining for cell identification, and subsequent recovery (harvesting) of cells from the device. Using the Parsortix™ system, average cell capture inside the device ranged between 42% and 70%. Subsequent harvest of cells from the device ranged between 54% and 69% of cells captured. Most importantly, 99% of the isolated tumor cells were viable after processing in spiking experiments as well as a

SUBMITTER: Hvichia GE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5069649 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature