Identification of Circulating Tumor Cells Using Plasmonic Resonance Effect: Lab-on-a-Chip Analysis and Modelling

Circulating tumor cells are widely used as biomarkers of cancer. Although early detection of these cells is vital for diagnosis and prognosis of deadly cancer, it is still a challenging issue due to the complex matrix of blood and their low presence in the bloodstream. In the present study, we propose a micro-channeled lab-on-a-chip system using two distinct methods based upon dielectrophoretic force and electrical properties of cells to increase the cell detection capability and identification efficiency and accuracy. The dielectric properties of cells contribute to the difference between negatively charged residues on the cell surface. Firstly, the dielectrophoretic force is used to separate background cells; then, the proposed high-accuracy identification method is used to better examine and study the unidentified cells. In the next phase, by amplification of the current of the unidentified cells flowing through the nanoparticle plasmonic resonance effects, the microfluidics output efficiency is significantly improved. As a result, highly accurate cell identification is achieved by taking advantage of the nanoparticle plasmonic properties. Overall, nanoparticle scattering in the plasmonic resonance condition, as well as their plasmonic hybridization, can improve output signal-to-noise ratio.