Discrete microfluidics for the isolation of circulating tumor cell subpopulations targeting fibroblast activation protein alpha and epithelial cell adhesion molecule.

ABSTRACT: Circulating tumor cells consist of phenotypically distinct subpopulations that originate from the tumor microenvironment. We report a circulating tumor cell dual selection assay that uses discrete microfluidics to select circulating tumor cell subpopulations from a single blood sample; circulating tumor cells expressing the established marker epithelial cell adhesion molecule and a new marker, fibroblast activation protein alpha, were evaluated. Both circulating tumor cell subpopulations were detected in metastatic ovarian, colorectal, prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancer patients and 90% of the isolated circulating tumor cells did not co-express both antigens. Clinical sensitivities of 100% showed substantial improvement compared to epithelial cell adhesion molecule selection alone. Ow

SUBMITTER: Witek MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5871807 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature