Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 4, 2025
09:45
Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology
Published on: November 14, 2025
194
Antigen-agnostic microfluidics-based circulating tumor cell enrichment and downstream molecular characterization
Evan N Cohen1, Gitanjali Jayachandran1, Max R Hardy1
1Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Hematopathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
Plos One
|October 23, 2020
Summary
This study introduces the Parsortix PR1 system for isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) based on physical properties, not surface markers. It shows promise for detecting diverse CTC phenotypes in cancer diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biotechnology
- Molecular Diagnostics
Background:
- Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are valuable biomarkers for cancer monitoring.
- Traditional CTC detection methods relying on surface proteins like EPCAM may miss mesenchymal CTCs.
- A need exists for antibody-agnostic CTC enrichment platforms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the Parsortix PR1 system for enriching CTCs based on size and deformability.
- To assess the performance of downstream molecular characterization techniques with Parsortix PR1-enriched cells.
- To determine the suitability of the Parsortix PR1 platform for clinical applications.
Main Methods:
- The Parsortix PR1 system was used for antibody-agnostic CTC enrichment.
- Healthy donor blood was spiked with cultured cancer cell lines.
- Downstream analysis included QuantiGene 25-gene assay, quantitative PCR (qPCR), and HTG EdgeSeq assay.
Main Results:
- The Parsortix PR1 system effectively enriched CTCs based on physical characteristics.
- QuantiGene assay detected epithelial genes from spiked cells.
- qPCR demonstrated high sensitivity, detecting CTC-related genes from as few as 5 spiked cells.
- HTG EdgeSeq profiled thousands of cancer-related genes, revealing pathway enrichment.
Conclusions:
- The Parsortix PR1 system, combined with sensitive downstream assays, can detect and characterize CTCs, including those with potentially missed phenotypes.
- This antibody-agnostic approach offers a versatile method for CTC analysis.
- The Parsortix PR1 platform shows potential for integration into routine clinical cancer diagnostics.
