Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7234425 | Biosensors and Bioelectronics | 2013 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are identified in transit within the blood stream of cancer patients and have been proven to be a main cause of metastatic disease. Current approaches for the size-based isolation of CTCs have encountered technical challenges as some of the CTCs have a size similar to that of leukocytes and therefore CTCs are often lost in the process. Here, we propose a novel strategy where most of the CTCs are coated by a large number of microbeads to amplify their size to enable complete discrimination from leukocytes. In addition, all of the microbead labeling processes are carried out in a continuous manner to prevent any loss of CTCs during the isolation process. Thus, a microfluidic mixer was employed to facilitate the efficient and selective labeling of CTCs from peripheral blood samples. By generating secondary vortex flows called Taylor-Gortler vortices perpendicular to the main flow direction in our microfluidic device, CTCs were continuously and successfully coated with anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule-conjugated beads. After the continuous labeling, the enlarged CTCs were perfectly trapped in a micro-filter whereas all of the leukocytes escaped.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
Authors
Ming Xian Lin, Kyung-A Hyun, Hui-Sung Moon, Tae Seok Sim, Jeong-Gun Lee, Jae Chan Park, Soo Suk Lee, Hyo-Il Jung,