A microfluidic system that specifically screens bladder cancer cells from circulating tumor cells

Objective To fabricate a microfluidic chip to specifically screen bladder cancer cells. Methods Using microfluidic technology, we designed and fabricated filter chips that can specifically isolate circulating bladder cancer cells from May 2015 to April 2016. The chip was fabricated through photolithography after spin coating negative photoresist, trimming, punching and cleaning process. The surface of the microchannel was modified by biotin-avidin-BCMab1-system (BAS). The blood sample containing T24 cells was used to test the validly of the chip. Results Chip was consisted of two layers, whose size was 4.0 cm × 0.3 cm ×0.5 cm. The upper structure was the fishbone structure that changed the fluid flow state. The fishbone structure was 45μm high and the spacing between fishbone structure was 50μm. The lower structure that captures the circulating tumor cells was micro-channel whose height was 50 μm. The whole chip modified by bladder cancer monoclonal antibody-BCMab1 could capture bladder cancer circulating tumor cells with high specificity, and capture rate was as high as 90%. Conclusions In summary, this chip might be a new way to diagnosis bladder cancer. Key words: Bladder cancer; Circulating tumor cells; Specific screening; Microfluidic device