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Isolation of Rare Circulating Tumour Cells in Cancer Patients

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Submitted By shreyas87
Words 7750
Pages 31
Vol 450 | 20/27 December 2007 | doi:10.1038/nature06385

LETTERS
Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology
Sunitha Nagrath1*, Lecia V. Sequist2*, Shyamala Maheswaran2, Daphne W. Bell2{, Daniel Irimia1, Lindsey Ulkus2, Matthew R. Smith2, Eunice L. Kwak2, Subba Digumarthy2, Alona Muzikansky2, Paula Ryan2, Ulysses J. Balis1{, Ronald G. Tompkins1, Daniel A. Haber2 & Mehmet Toner1

Viable tumour-derived epithelial cells (circulating tumour cells or CTCs) have been identified in peripheral blood from cancer patients and are probably the origin of intractable metastatic disease1–4. Although extremely rare, CTCs represent a potential alternative to invasive biopsies as a source of tumour tissue for the detection, characterization and monitoring of non-haematologic cancers5–8. The ability to identify, isolate, propagate and molecularly characterize CTC subpopulations could further the discovery of cancer stem cell biomarkers and expand the understanding of the biology of metastasis. Current strategies for isolating CTCs are limited to complex analytic approaches that generate very low yield and purity9. Here we describe the development of a unique microfluidic platform (the ‘CTC-chip’) capable of efficient and selective separation of viable CTCs from peripheral whole blood samples, mediated by the interaction of target CTCs with antibody (EpCAM)-coated microposts under precisely controlled laminar flow conditions, and without requisite pre-labelling or processing of samples. The CTC-chip successfully identified CTCs in the peripheral blood of patients with metastatic lung, prostate, pancreatic, breast and colon cancer in 115 of 116 (99%) samples, with a range of 5–1,281 CTCs per ml and approximately 50% purity. In addition, CTCs were isolated in 7/7 patients with early-stage prostate cancer. Given the high sensitivity and

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