Abstract
The ability to accurately detect and analyze rare cells in a cell population is critical not only for the study of disease progression but also for next flow cytometry systems in clinical application. Here, we report the development of a prototype device, the ‘Rare cell sorter’, for isolating and recovering single rare cells from whole blood samples. On this device, we utilized an open-channel microfluidic chip for rare cell isolation. And the advantage of open-channel allows us to recover the isolated rare cell directly from the chip. We set the circulating tumor cell (CTC) as a target cell.For the clinical experiment, CTCs were isolated from blood samples collected from patients with metastatic breast cancer and healthy volunteers. There was a significant difference in the number of CTCs between the patients with metastatic breast cancer and healthy volunteers. To evaluate the damage to cells during isolation and recovery, we performed an RNA integrity assay using RNA extracted from CTCs recovered from the chip and found that our process for single CTC isolation and recovery is mild enough for gene analysis of CTCs.
Highlights
Isolation of rare cells, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) [1], fetal nucleated red blood cells [2], and vascular epithelial cells (ECs) [3], from large population of background cells such as blood has a wide range of applications
We evaluated the use of the microfluidic chip using a mouse CTC model [20, 21]
The mouse CTC model is made by subcutaneous injection of GCIY-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) into mice
Summary
Isolation of rare cells (low-abundance cells), such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) [1], fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBC) [2], and vascular epithelial cells (ECs) [3], from large population of background cells such as blood has a wide range of applications. Several studies have analyzed the genetic mutations carried by CTCs, comparing the mutations to those of primary tumors or correlating the findings to the severity or spread of the patient’s disease [4, 5]. The leading applications of CTC analyses are real-time genetic analyses of tumor cells. This is a subject that has become critical in the new era of genetically targeted cancer therapies. Peripheral blood might serve as a perfect alternative sample for cancer diagnoses, such that the analysis of CTCs has been termed ‘liquid biopsy’ [6, 7].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
