Isolating Rare Cells and Circulating Tumor Cells with High Purity by Sequential eDAR

Anal Chem. 2019 Nov 19;91(22):14605-14610. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b03690. Epub 2019 Nov 7.

Abstract

Isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of patients at risk of metastatic cancers is a promising approach to improving cancer treatment. However, CTC isolation is difficult due to low CTC abundance and heterogeneity. Previously, we reported an ensemble-decision aliquot ranking (eDAR) platform for the rare cell and CTC isolation with high throughput, greater than 90% recovery, and high sensitivity, allowing detection of low surface antigen-expressing cells linked to metastasis. Here we demonstrate a sequential eDAR platform capable of isolating rare cells from whole blood with high purity. This improvement in purity is achieved by using a sequential sorting and flow stretching design in which whole blood is sorted and fluid elements are stretched using herringbone features and the parabolic flow profile being sorted a second time. This platform can be used to collect single CTCs in a multiwell plate for downstream analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Blood Cells*
  • Cell Separation / methods*
  • Humans
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods
  • Neoplastic Cells, Circulating*