Three-Dimensional Scaffold Chip with Thermosensitive Coating for Capture and Reversible Release of Individual and Cluster of Circulating Tumor Cells

Anal Chem. 2017 Aug 1;89(15):7924-7932. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b00905. Epub 2017 Jul 17.

Abstract

Tumor metastasis is attributed to circulating tumor cells (CTC) or CTC clusters. Many strategies have hitherto been designed to isolate CTCs, but there are few methods that can capture and gently release CTC clusters as efficient as single CTCs. Herein, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold chip with thermosensitive coating for high-efficiency capture and release of individual and cluster CTCs. The 3D scaffold chip successfully combines the specific recognition and physically obstructed effect of 3D scaffold structure to significantly improve cell clusters capture efficiency. Thermosensitive gelatin hydrogel uniformly coated on the scaffold dissolves at 37 °C quickly, and the captured cells are gently released from chip with high viability. Notably, this platform was applied to isolate CTCs from cancer patients' blood samples. This allows global DNA and RNA methylation analysis of collected single CTC and CTC clusters, indicating the great potential of this platform in cancer diagnosis and downstream analysis at the molecular level.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies / chemistry
  • Antibodies / immunology
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • DNA / analysis*
  • DNA / chemistry
  • DNA Methylation
  • Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule / immunology
  • Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule / metabolism
  • Gelatin / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Hydrogels / chemistry
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / chemistry
  • Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / metabolism*
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / methods*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule
  • Hydrogels
  • Gelatin
  • DNA