Single-cell analysis of circulating tumour cells: enabling technologies and clinical applications

Payar Radfar; Hamidreza Aboulkheyr Es; Rob Salomon; Arutha Kulasinghe; Naveen Ramalingam; Ehsan Sarafraz-Yazdi; Jean Paul Thiery; Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.02.004

Single-cell analysis of circulating tumour cells: enabling technologies and clinical applications

Trends Biotechnol. 2022 Sep;40(9):1041-1060. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.02.004. Epub 2022 Mar 17.

Authors

Payar Radfar¹, Hamidreza Aboulkheyr Es¹, Rob Salomon², Arutha Kulasinghe³, Naveen Ramalingam⁴, Ehsan Sarafraz-Yazdi⁵, Jean Paul Thiery⁶, Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
² Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; ACRF Child Cancer Liquid Biopsy Program, Children's Cancer Institute, Sydney, Australia.
³ University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
⁴ Fluidigm Corporation, South San Francisco, California 94080, USA.
⁵ NomoCan Pharmaceuticals, New York Blood Centre, New York, NY 10065, USA.
⁶ Centre of Biomedical Engineering, Sechenov University, Moscow, 119991, Russia; Bioland Laboratory, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health, Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, 510320, China.
⁷ School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; Centre of Biomedical Engineering, Sechenov University, Moscow, 119991, Russia; Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: majid.warkiani@uts.edu.au.

PMID: 35311650
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.02.004

Abstract

Multimodal analysis of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) has the potential to provide remarkable insight for cancer development and metastasis. CTCs and CTC clusters investigation using single-cell analysis, enables researchers to gain crucial information on metastatic mechanisms and the genomic alterations responsible for drug resistance, empowering treatment, and management of cancer. Despite a plethora of CTC isolation technologies, careful attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each method should be considered in order to isolate these rare cells. Here, we provide an overview of cutting-edge technologies used for single-cell isolation and analysis of CTCs. Additionally, we highlight the biological features, clinical application, and the therapeutic potential of CTCs and CTC clusters using single-cell analysis platforms for cancer management.

Keywords: CTC isolation; circulating tumour cell clusters; circulating tumour cells; single-cell analysis; targeted therapy.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Cell Separation / methods
Humans
Neoplastic Cells, Circulating*
Single-Cell Analysis