Abstract Background Cancer becomes lethal as it spreads from the primary site to the rest of the body. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are biomarkers of disease progression and have been associated with decreased overall survival. Blood filtration is a novel concept for removing CTCs from circulation to improve patient prognosis. Methods This study utilizes liquid biopsy to assess the efficacy of ExThera Medical’s Seraph® 100 Microbind® Affinity Blood Filter on the blood of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) using the third generation high-definition single cell assay workflow. Blood samples from treatment-naïve PDAC patients were collected and analyzed to characterize the CTCs and other rare cells present before and after filtration. Results Examination of 6 paired portal vein blood (PoVB) samples demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in total rare cells, total cytokeratin (CK)+ cells, and CTCs across all patients due to filtration. Furthermore, analysis of 2 paired peripheral blood (PB) samples showed a decrease in total rare cells, total CK+ cells, and specific phenotypes of rare cells after filtration. Discussion These preliminary results demonstrate initial proof of concept that this filtration device can remove CTCs from circulation and may therefore be useful as a therapy or adjunct in PDAC patient care.
