Abstract
We report a microchip system based on a combination of immunomagnetic separation, microfluidics, and size-based filtration for high-throughput detection of rare cells. In this system, target cells bind to magnetic beads in vitro and flow parallel to a microchip with flow rates of milliliters/minute. A magnetic field draws the bead-bound cells toward the microchip, which contains apertures that allow passage of unbound beads while trapping the target cells. The cells captured on the chip can be investigated clearly under a microscope and released from the chip for further analysis. We first characterize the system by detecting cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and A549) in culture media. We then demonstrate detection of 100 MCF-7 cells spiked in 7.5 mL of human blood to simulate detection of circulating tumor cells present in cancer patient blood samples. On average, 85% of the spiked cells were detected. We expect this system to be highly useful in a wide variety of clinical as well as other applications that seek rare cells.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 6808412 |
Pages (from-to) | 3008-3013 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | IEEE Sensors Journal |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2014 |
Keywords
- CTC detection
- immunomagnetic separation
- microfluidics
- rare cell detection
- size-based filtration
- tumor cells
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Instrumentation
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering