Abstract 3187: Ex vivo characterization of CTCs isolated using the FMSA device

Abstract

Abstract Although technological advances in recent years have enabled isolatation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), only the VeridexCellSearch System has been approved by the FDA for assessment of patient prognosis in metastatic breast, colon, and prostate cancers. A fundamental challenge with the CellSearch System is that the technique it uses to enrich and detect CTCs, EpCAM-basedimmunomagnetic isolation, fixates captured cells and prevents further molecular characterization by functional assays and primary cell culture. Progress in addressing these issues may help with progress with a variety of clinical needs including further characterization of the biology of individual patient tumors as well as their potential response top various therapeutics. In this study, we use the Flexible Micro Spring Array (FMSA) Device —a novel portable microfluidic device that captures and isolates viable CTCs by two physical parameters: size and flexibility—to capture, culture, and further characterize CTCs.GFP-labeled HCT-116 cells were spiked into healthy samples of donor blood to mimic blood samples of metastatic cancer patients. This spiked blood was filtered using the FMSA device, and the recovered cells were expanded in cell culture. A series of experiments were carried out to characterize these cells and investigate the effect of chemotherapy on the resulting cultures. Studies are ongoing to evaluate the potential of using this model to culture CTCs from patients and to evaluate the response of these cells to chemotherapies using high-throughput methodologies. The isolation of viable CTCs from human blood using the FMSA device provides a novel means for studying viable CTCs and for testing drug efficacy ex vivo. The analysis and identification of CTC-specific characteristics and their relation to chemotherapy susceptibility suggests a potential paradigm shift toward personalized and targeted cancer therapy based on the specific genetic defects of each patient's malignancy and CTCs. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3187. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3187