Continuous Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells from Whole Blood Using a Slanted Weir Microfluidic Device.

ABSTRACT: The separation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the peripheral blood is an important issue that has been highlighted because of their high clinical potential. However, techniques that depend solely on tumor-specific surface molecules or just the larger size of CTCs are limited by tumor heterogeneity. Here, we present a slanted weir microfluidic device that utilizes the size and deformability of CTCs to separate them from the unprocessed whole blood. By testing its ability using a highly invasive breast cancer cell line, our device achieved a 97% separation efficiency, while showing an 8-log depletion of erythrocytes and 5.6-log depletion of leukocytes. We also developed an image analysis tool that was able to characterize the various morphologies and differing deformability of the se

SUBMITTER: Yoon Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6406949 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature