Size-based separation methods of circulating tumor cells

Si-Jie Hao; Yuan Wan; Yi-Qiu Xia; Xin Zou; Si-Yang Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.addr.2018.01.002

Size-based separation methods of circulating tumor cells

Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2018 Feb 1:125:3-20. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2018.01.002. Epub 2018 Jan 8.

Authors

Si-Jie Hao¹, Yuan Wan¹, Yi-Qiu Xia¹, Xin Zou¹, Si-Yang Zheng²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Penn State Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Penn State Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. Electronic address: sxz10@psu.edu.

PMID: 29326054
DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2018.01.002

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) originate from the primary tumor mass and enter into the peripheral bloodstream. Compared to other "liquid biopsy" portfolios such as exosome, circulating tumor DNA/RNA (ctDNA/RNA), CTCs have incomparable advantages in analyses of transcriptomics, proteomics, and signal colocalization. Hence, CTCs hold the key to understanding the biology of metastasis and play a vital role in cancer diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and prognosis. Size-based enrichment features are prominent in CTC isolation. It is a label-free, simple and fast method. Enriched CTCs remain unmodified and viable for a wide range of subsequent analyses. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the differences of size and deformability between CTCs and blood cells, which would facilitate the development of technologies of size-based CTC isolation. Then we review representative size-/deformability-based technologies available for CTC isolation and highlight the recent achievements in molecular analysis of isolated CTCs. To wrap up, we discuss the substantial challenges facing the field, and elaborate on prospects.

Keywords: Circulating tumor cells; Deformability; Filtration; Microfluidics; Omics technologies; Size.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Cell Separation / methods*
Humans
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques*
Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / pathology*
Particle Size
Surface Properties