Circulating Tumor Cell Isolation and Analysis

Isolation and analysis of cancer cells from body fluids have significant implications in diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of cancers. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells circulating in the peripheral blood or spreading iatrogenically into blood vessels, which is an early step in the cascade of events leading to cancer metastasis. Therefore, CTCs can be used for diagnosing for therapeutic treatment, prognosing a given anticancer intervention, and estimating the risk of metastatic relapse. However, isolation of CTCs is a significant technological challenge due to their rarity and low recovery rate using traditional purification techniques. Recently microfluidic devices represent a promising platform for isolating cancer cells with high efficiency in processing complex cellular fluids, with simplicity, sensitivity, and throughput. This review summarizes recent methods of CTC isolation and analysis, as well as their applications in clinical studies.