• Home
• OUR PLATFROM
• Microfluidic Technology Platforms
• CTC Detection System

The analysis of circulating tumor cell (CTC) cluster provides a new idea for the study of tumor metastasis mechanism, and promotes the development of tumor diagnosis and prognosis, drug screening, gene mutation detection and anti-metastasis treatment. Creative Biolabs can provide customized and development services based on microfluidic technology for effective CTC separation and detection to help the treatment of tumor diseases.

Introduction of CTC

CTC is described as the cells released into the vascular system by the primary tumor. They are separated from the primary tumor in the form of single cells and clusters, shed into the bloodstream, and migrate to colonize in distant organs. CTCs are the most useful biomarkers for cancer metastasis, because they circulate in body fluids even in the early stage of the disease. However, they are not easy to identify because they are present in a very small number. It is estimated that a teaspoon of blood may contain only about 5-50 CTCs.

Fig.1 Metastasis and microenvironment of CTC cluster. (Rostami, 2019)

Since CTC may form new tumors in individual tissues, it is very important to detect CTC in blood for evaluating metastasis process and guiding treatment. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the effect of treatment by real-time quantitative evaluation of CTC in metastatic cancer patients.

Microfluidic Technology in CTC Detection

Microfluidic devices are manufactured by micromachining, and their structure is similar to the cell length scale. These devices must allow precise control of the sample flow, as this affects cell-antibody contact and thus the cell capture efficiency.

High-throughput micro sampling unit (HTMSU) based on the microchip is a kind of microfluidic device, which can separate CTCs from blood by targeting unique membrane protein with surface-immobilized monoclonal antibodies. This device is particularly suitable for high-throughput processing by using multiple parallels configured high-aspect-ratio microchannels.

Fig. 2 Microfluidic CTC isolation.²

What Can We do?

Creative Biolabs provides design and customization services for CTC testing devices based on microfluidic technology. Not only the HTMSUs microfluidic device that detects the unique electrical characteristics of CTC through the integrated platinum conductivity sensor, but also the CTC chip that promotes the adhesion of cells to antibodies through the geometric arrangement of micropores and fluid flow velocity, as well as the geometrically enhanced differential immunocapture (GEDI) chip using geometrically enhanced differential immunocapture is available to minimize non-specific leukocyte adhesion.

The advantages of CTC detection microfluidic system:

• Independent low-cost system with future-oriented design to achieve scalability;
• High-performance, high-throughput, cost-effective and user-friendly system;
• Real-time operation and retain cell viability;
• Small footprint and very portable.

If you have any special needs in our CTC detection systems development services, please feel free to contact us for more details.

References

1. Rostami, Kashaninejad, et al. " Novel approaches in cancer management with circulating tumor cell clusters " Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices 4.1 (2019): 1-18.
2. Stott, Hsu, et al. " Isolation of circulating tumor cells using a microvortex-generating herringbone-chip " International Journal of Molecular Sciences 107.43 (2010): 18392-18397.

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.