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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
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Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology
Published on: November 14, 2025
High-throughput deformability-based microfluidic sorting reveals metastatic cancer subpopulations
Xiaoyan Liu1,2, Yuanchao Liu2, Junwei Li3
1Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117599, Singapore.
Summary
This study introduces a microfluidic platform to sort cancer cells by deformability, revealing a link between cell mechanics, protein expression, and metastasis. This enables high-throughput analysis of aggressive cancer subpopulations for precision oncology.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Cancer Biology
- Microfluidics
Background:
- Cancer cell deformability is a key indicator of malignancy, reflecting biostructural and biochemical changes.
- Isolating and analyzing cancer cell subpopulations by deformability at high throughput is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a high-throughput microfluidic platform for sorting cancer cells based on deformability.
- To investigate the correlation between cancer cell deformability, protein expression, and metastatic potential.
Main Methods:
- A microstructure-assisted spiral microfluidic platform was used for ultrahigh-throughput cell sorting (>2,000,000 cells/min).
- Real-time, image-based phenotyping was coupled with sorting.
- Deformability-based sorting was applied to human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, BT-549).
Main Results:
- The platform successfully sorted cancer cells into subpopulations based on deformability.
- A tripartite correlation was confirmed between cell deformability, protein expression, and metastatic ability.
- More deformable subpopulations showed increased invasiveness and distinct epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signatures.
Conclusions:
- Deformability-based sorting enables high-throughput enrichment of aggressive cancer subpopulations.
- This label-free platform supports liquid biopsy workflows and analysis of rare metastasis-prone cells.
- Cell deformability integration into precision oncology can accelerate screening for mechano-targeted therapies.
