Application of microfluidics-based technologies in the analysis of circulating tumor cells heterogeneity

Abstract

<p indent=0mm>Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a critical role in the fluid biopsy, which has great potential for the low-invasive or even non-invasive analysis of tumor cells in body fluids. During the process of proliferation and metastasis, variation among tumor cells frequently occurs, including gene mutations, proteomic and epigenetic changes, bringing in great challenges to clinical diagnosis and treatment. Single CTCs analysis can reveal the intrinsic heterogeneity among the tumor cells, which is significant for early cancer diagnosis, therapeutic response and prognosis prediction. Microfluidic-based technologies for CTCs analysis have been considered as a skillful way because of its small size, easy manipulation, low cost and so on. In this review, we mainly discuss the application of microfluidics involved single-cell technology for providing novel insights into cellular heterogeneity and cancer evolution.