Abstract 2389: A microfluidic system for the selection of circulating tumor cells that utilizes both affinity and size capture technologies

Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth and dissemination. As tumors increase in size and vascularity, populations of cells break off from the primary tumor, enter into the circulation, and are transported to distant parts of the host. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may constitute a seed population that is responsible for subsequent growth of additional tumors (metastasis) in different tissues. Therefore capture, and subsequent characterization of CTCs from patient9s blood, offers an opportunity to both study and monitor progression of the disease. One of the most common methodologies used for CTC capture is affinity based, where specific antibodies bind to cell surface antigens and allow cell capture. A second technique employs size filtration. CTCs are generally larger than normal leukocytes and this size differential can be exploited to enrich CTCs. Here we describe a CTC dual capture platform developed at On-Q-ity Inc. that combines both of these isolation techniques to offer more efficient CTC capture than either technology alone. Performance of On-Q-ity platform will be compared to Veridex9s CellSearch. Utility of On-Q-ity platform for sophisticated molecular and cellular characterization of captured cells will also be described. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2389. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2389