Scientific Reports (Jun 2017)

Optofluidic device for the quantification of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer

  • Eric Pedrol,
  • Manuel Garcia-Algar,
  • Jaume Massons,
  • Moritz Nazarenus,
  • Luca Guerrini,
  • Javier Martínez,
  • Airan Rodenas,
  • Ana Fernandez-Carrascal,
  • Magdalena Aguiló,
  • Laura G. Estevez,
  • Isabel Calvo,
  • Ana Olano-Daza,
  • Eduardo Garcia-Rico,
  • Francesc Díaz,
  • Ramon A. Alvarez-Puebla

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04033-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Metastatic cancer patients require a continuous monitoring during the sequential treatment cycles to carefully evaluate their disease evolution. Repetition of biopsies is very invasive and not always feasible. Herein, we design and demonstrate a 3D-flow focusing microfluidic device, where all optics are integrated into the chip, for the fluorescence quantification of CTCs in real samples. To test the chip performance, two cell membrane targets, the epithelial cell adhesion molecule, EpCAM, and the receptor tyrosine-protein kinase, HER2, are selected. The efficiency of the platform is demonstrated on cell lines and in a variety of healthy donors and metastatic-breast cancer patients.