During metastatic progression, cancer cells leave from the primary tumor, enter the blood vessels, and travel to different organs of the body. These cancer cells in the blood are known as circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The quantification of CTCs in patient blood has become a clinically relevant and important prognostic biomarker. Although the CTCs are very rare in patient blood, the methods that are used currently to detect CTCs have a poor sensitivity. In this work, we have developed a new microfluidic chip for isolation of CTCs utilizing differences in size and deformability of CTCs to blood cells. Two dimensional arrays of micro-cell separating units were placed in the mircofluidic channel. In order to increase recovery rate, units of second low were located between units of first low. CTCs were captured by microstructures in the unit and blood cells passed through the microstructures of the separating unit. Low velocity inside the unit reduced deformation of CTCs and escape of CTCs from microstructures. The microfluidic chip separated CTCs successfully without labeling without labeling in spiking experiments. The trapping yield was about 50%.

Isolation of cancer cells from whole blood using the micro-cell separator

245th National Meeting (2013)

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