Endogenous light scattering as an optical signature of circulating tumor cell clusters

Joe Lyons; Michael Polmear; Nora D Mineva; Mathilde Romagnoli; Gail E Sonenshein; Irene Georgakoudi

doi:10.1364/BOE.7.001042

Endogenous light scattering as an optical signature of circulating tumor cell clusters

Biomed Opt Express. 2016 Feb 25;7(3):1042-50. doi: 10.1364/BOE.7.001042. eCollection 2016 Mar 1.

Authors

Joe Lyons¹, Michael Polmear¹, Nora D Mineva², Mathilde Romagnoli², Gail E Sonenshein², Irene Georgakoudi³

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Engineering Department, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, USA; These authors contributed equally to this work.
² Department of Developmental, Molecular and Chemical Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Biomedical Engineering Department, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, USA.

Abstract

Circulating tumor cell clusters (CTCCs) are significantly more likely to form metastases than single tumor cells. We demonstrate the potential of backscatter-based flow cytometry (BSFC) to detect unique light scattering signatures of CTCCs in the blood of mice orthotopically implanted with breast cancer cells and treated with an anti-ADAM8 or a control antibody. Based on scattering detected at 405, 488, and 633 nm from blood samples flowing through microfluidic devices, we identified 14 CTCCs with large scattering peak widths and intensities, whose presence correlated strongly with metastasis. These initial studies demonstrate the potential to detect CTCCs via label-free BSFC.

Keywords: (170.4580) Optical diagnostics for medicine; (290.1350) Backscattering.

Abstract

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