Abstract 5102: Analysis of CTCs enriched from whole blood samples of Breast, Lung and Colorectal cancer patients with a flexible microspring array device.

Abstract

Abstract The process by which metastatic cancers release cells that detach from a primary tumor, spread through the circulatory system and invade distant organs accounts for over 90% of cancer related deaths. A fundamental challenge with analysis of these circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood samples is the fact that they are so rare, with only a few tumors cells occurring among billions of blood cells. We have developed a flexible micro spring array (FMSA) that employs mechanical separation to effectively enrich CTCs in a nondestructive manner that does not compromise cell viability. The FMSA device geometric design and applied filtration pressures have been optimized to maximize capture efficiency, enrichment against leukocytes, and tumor cell viability. We have successfully enriched and detected varying numbers of CTCs (min=1, max=101) in 7.5mL whole blood samples obtained from Breast, Lung and Colorectal cancer patients. CTCs were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively based on immunocytochemical determination of phenotype and cell morphological characteristics. Aggregate clusters of cells were observed in all assayed cancer types that comprised of multiple attached CTCs (min=2, max=20) and occasionally leukocytes as well. Citation Format: Ramdane Harouaka, Ming-Da Zhou, Yin-Ting Yeh, Cristina Truica, Avisnata Das, Jussuf Kaifi, Wafik El-Deiry, Xin Liu, Chandra Belani, Tara Baney, Jeffrey Allerton, Si-Yang Zheng. Analysis of CTCs enriched from whole blood samples of Breast, Lung and Colorectal cancer patients with a flexible microspring array device. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5102. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5102