Circulating tumor
cells (CTCs) are tumor cells that originate from primary cancer tissues,
enter the bloodstream in the body, and metastasize to the other organs.
Simple and convenient methods for their detection, capture, and recovery
from the blood of cancer patients would be highly desirable. We report
here on a simple and convenient methodology to trap, culture, and
re-collect cancer cells, the sizes of which are greater than those
of normal hematologic cells, by the use of glass-bead filters (GBFs).
We prepared GBFs with a diameter of 24 mm and thicknesses of 0.4 mm
and 1.2 mm, with well-defined pores, by sintering round-shaped glass
beads (diameter: 63–106 μm). A small integrated glass-bead
filter (iGBF) with a diameter of ca. 9.6 mm for the use in filtering
a small volume of blood was also designed and prepared. Using GBF
and iGBF, it was possible to efficiently capture mouse Lewis lung
carcinoma cells expressing green fluorescent protein spiked in saline/blood
by single and repeated (circulation) filtrations in in vitro experiments with very small amounts of red blood cells being captured.
In addition, we successfully captured B16 CTCs from the blood of a
B16 melanoma metastasis mouse model by iGBF. Cancer cells/CTCs captured
on/in the GBF could be cultured and efficiently recovered from the
filters. Filtration by GBF had negligible effect on the adherent and
proliferative characteristics of cancer cells. Simple and convenient
methods for the capture, culture, and re-collection of CTCs by GBF
along with flexibility of GBF, which permits them to be molded into
suitable architectures having the desired shape and size, should be
useful for early and convenient diagnosis and treatment of cancer
and related diseases.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.