Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 22, 2026
Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells
Published on: October 13, 2023
High-Throughput Microfluidic Labyrinth for the Label-free Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells
Eric Lin1, Lianette Rivera-Báez1, Shamileh Fouladdel2
1Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Translational Oncology Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Abstract:
We present "Labyrinth," a label-free microfluidic device to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using the combination of long loops and sharp corners to focus both CTCs and white blood cells (WBCs) at a high throughput of 2.5 mL/min. The high yield (>90%) and purity (600 WBCs/mL) of Labyrinth enabled us to profile gene expression in CTCs. As proof of principle, we used previously established cancer stem cell gene signatures to profile single cells isolated from the blood of breast cancer patients. We observed heterogeneous subpopulations of CTCs expressing genes for stem cells, epithelial cells, mesenchymal cells, and cells transitioning between epithelial and mesenchymal. Labyrinth offers a cell-surface marker-independent single-cell isolation platform to study heterogeneous CTC subpopulations.
