Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 7, 2025
Clinical Microfluidic Chip Platform for the Isolation of Versatile Circulating Tumor Cells
Published on: October 13, 2023
A Novel System to Detect Circulating Tumor Cells Using Two Different Size-selective Microfilters
Tomoaki Sonoda1,2, Noriko Yanagitani1, Kanako Suga3
1Department of Thoracic Medical Oncology, the Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan.
Background/Aim:
Clusters of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) increase metastatic potential compared to single CTC. However, conventional technologies have been unable to generate an accurate analysis of single and cluster CTCs in the peripheral blood. We propose an effective strategy to detect and isolate both single and cluster CTCs using two size-selective microfilters.
Materials And Methods:
Five ml of whole blood were collected from 10 patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Single and cluster CTCs were identified using precision microfiltration membranes with two distinct pore sizes together with anti-EpCAM antibody labeling.
Results:
Single and cluster CTCs were detected by simultaneously using two size-selective microfilters. The EGFR-L858R mutation was detected in the DNA from cells captured using both microfilters.
Conclusion:
Our method can be used to detect and isolate single and cluster CTCs in the whole blood and may facilitate the development of a liquid biopsy strategy.
