A reliable trap for circulating cancer cells
The chip system will detect cancer cells in the bloodstream
These "migrating" cells are extremely difficult to detect in the bloodstream – there is sometimes only 1 atypical cell per 1 billion blood cells. However, researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital managed to create a microsystem capable of detecting even single cancer cells in the bloodstream. You can read more about this device in the journal Science Translational Medicine: Inertial Focusing for Tumor Antigen–Dependent and –Independent Sorting of Rare Circulating Tumor Cells (for a popular retelling of the work, see the press release Third-generation device significantly improves capture of circulating tumor cells – VM).
In 2007, a group of scientists from MGH, led by bioengineer Mehmet Toner, developed a way to detect and "catch" cancer cells circulating in the bloodstream (circulating tumor cells, CTC) using a silicon chip the size of a slide for a microscope. Inside this chip there are many tunnels as thick as a human hair, through which a patient's blood sample is passed. The walls of these tunnels are covered with antibodies that "catch" STS that have certain surface proteins. The disadvantage of this chip was that STS that did not have these surface proteins, for example, melanoma cells, passed through the tunnels unnoticed.
However, bioengineer Emre Ozkumur slightly changed and improved this technique. The system of chips created by him called CTC-iChip, unlike its predecessor, with the help of antibodies to surface proteins catches blood cells from a sample without affecting the CTC. The system consists of two chips – the first one catches and removes erythrocytes and platelets from the sample, leaving leukocytes and STS. The second chip captures white blood cells, leaving only STS in the sample, which can then be collected and examined using traditional methods.
The clinical application of this technique is obvious: early detection of STS in the bloodstream will help doctors to start antimetastatic therapy as early as possible, which will help slow down or even stop the progression of cancer. Currently, researchers are improving CTC-iChip to reduce the cost of its production and prepare the device for clinical use. Scientists also intend to combine two chips of this system into one.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru11.04.2013