A 3D PDMS Scaffold Microchip Platform for Non-Invasive Detection of Circulating Endometrial Cells: Revolutionizing...

To address the urgent need for non-invasive diagnosis of  endometriosis, this study developed a novel microfluidic platform utilizing a three-dimensional (3D) polydimethylsiloxane scaffold microchip to efficiently capture circulating endometrial cells (CECs).

A prospective single-center study was performed from June 2022 to June 2023. Presurgical peripheral blood was collected from 42 patients with endometriosis and 20 controls. Microchips were functionalized with antibodies against epithelial cellular adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cluster of differentiation 10 (CD10). They were used to capture and identify CECs for diagnostic evaluation.

The presence of CD10 was observed in 88.10% of cases (37/42), significantly higher than in controls (35%, 7/20, P < 0.001). Similarly, the levels of EpCAM were detected in 52.38% of cases (22/42) and 30% of controls (6/20, P = 0.25). In preoperative diagnosis, integrating CECs with clinical parameters achieved superior accuracy (AUC = 0.870) compared to CA125 (AUC = 0.813) and clinical-only models (AUC = 0.606-0.923). When comparing CEC levels before and after surgery, the CEC-integrated clinical model demonstrated robust diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.877).

This 3D microfluidic platform enables precise, convenient, and non-invasive endometriosis identification via efficient CEC capture, offering significant potential for clinical translation.