posted on 2024-03-11, 13:04authored byYang Liu, Wujun Zhao, Jamie Hodgson, Mary Egan, Christen N. Cooper Pope, Glenda Hicks, Petros G. Nikolinakos, Leidong Mao
Distinctive subpopulations of circulating tumor cells
(CTCs) with
increased motility are considered to possess enhanced tumor-initiating
potential and contribute to metastasis. Single-cell analysis of the
migratory CTCs may increase our understanding of the metastatic process,
yet most studies are limited by technical challenges associated with
the isolation and characterization of these cells due to their extreme
scarcity and heterogeneity. We report a microfluidic method based
on CTCs’ chemotactic motility, termed as CTC-Race assay, that
can analyze migrating CTCs from metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer
(NSCLC) patients with advanced tumor stages and enable concurrent
biophysical and biochemical characterization of them with single-cell
resolution. Analyses of motile CTCs in the CTC-Race assay, in synergy
with other single cell characterization techniques, could provide
insights into cancer metastasis.