Maximizing derivable information from cytologic specimens for pathologic and molecular diagnostics

The advent of precision medicine will increase the demand for molecular testing on patient tumor specimens. Cytology specimens have been shown to be ideal substrates for molecular testing, but their often paucicellular nature can lead to conflicts in prioritizing sample management. A microfluidic platform was investigated to determine whether cytologic and molecular data could be procured from the same cells, obviating the need for partitioning a sample by multiplexing it instead.

Cytology samples were created from a tissue source, stained with a supravital dye, and enriched using immunomagnetic beads. These cells and the attached immunomagnetic beads were then run through a microfluidic channel, temporarily immobilized for cytologic examination, and then recovered. The cytologic characteristics of these cells was compared with cells from the same source prepared by conventional cytologic preparatory means. DNA was extracted from the cells recovered from the microfluidic channel and the nature of their integrity was assessed.

Cytologic features between cells run in a microfluidic channel and prepared by conventional means were similar. The DNA recovered from the cells run through the microfluidic channel was of high molecular weight.

Microfluidics enables multiplex testing of cytologic specimens, allowing for cytology-based diagnostic examination and recovery of high-quality DNA. This approach will be of particular benefit for cytology specimens that are paucicellular and will need molecular testing.