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Droplet microfluidics for CTC-based liquid biopsy: a review
Lin Jiang1, Hang Yang1, Weiqi Cheng1
1School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China. nan.xiang@seu.edu.cn.
The Analyst
|December 12, 2022
Summary
Droplet microfluidics offers a sensitive platform for analyzing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at the single-cell level. This technology enhances cancer diagnosis and personalized medicine by enabling detailed CTC detection and heterogeneity analysis.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cancer Biology
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are crucial biomarkers in liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis and personalized medicine.
- Conventional assays detect CTCs at the population level, limiting single-cell resolution.
- A highly sensitive method for single-cell CTC analysis is needed due to their low abundance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the application of droplet microfluidics for quantitative detection and heterogeneity analysis of CTCs.
- To provide guidance for future research in droplet microfluidics for CTC-based liquid biopsy.
Main Methods:
- Focus on droplet microfluidics as a high-throughput single-cell analysis platform.
- Discussion of enabling technologies: high-throughput droplet generation and droplet manipulation.
- Review of recent advances in CTC detection and analysis using droplet microfluidics.
Main Results:
- Droplet microfluidics enables sensitive, high-throughput, single-cell analysis of CTCs.
- Advances cover the analysis of CTCs based on nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites.
- Demonstrates the potential for detailed CTC heterogeneity analysis.
Conclusions:
- Droplet microfluidics is a powerful tool for single-cell CTC analysis in liquid biopsy.
- This technology significantly advances cancer diagnosis and personalized treatment strategies.
- Further research in droplet microfluidics will refine CTC-based liquid biopsy applications.
