Issue 9, 2021

Fundamentals of integrated ferrohydrodynamic cell separation in circulating tumor cell isolation

Abstract

Methods to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples were intensively researched in order to understand the metastatic process and develop corresponding clinical assays. However current methods faced challenges that stemmed from CTCs' heterogeneity in their biological markers and physical morphologies. To this end, we developed integrated ferrohydrodynamic cell separation (iFCS), a scheme that separated CTCs independent of their surface antigen expression and physical characteristics. iFCS integrated both diamagnetophoresis of CTCs and magnetophoresis of blood cells together via a magnetic liquid medium, ferrofluid, whose magnetization could be tuned by adjusting its magnetic volume concentration. In this paper, we presented the fundamental theory of iFCS and its specific application in CTC separation. Governing equations of iFCS were developed to guide its optimization process. Three critical parameters that affected iFCS's cell separation performance were determined and validated theoretically and experimentally. These parameters included the sample flow rate, the volumetric concentration of magnetic materials in the ferrofluid, and the gradient of the magnetic flux density. We determined these optimized parameters in an iFCS device that led to a high recovery CTC separation in both spiked and clinical samples.

Graphical abstract: Fundamentals of integrated ferrohydrodynamic cell separation in circulating tumor cell isolation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 feb 2021
Accepted
03 mar 2021
First published
04 mar 2021

Lab Chip, 2021,21, 1706-1723

Author version available

Fundamentals of integrated ferrohydrodynamic cell separation in circulating tumor cell isolation

Y. Liu, W. Zhao, R. Cheng, B. N. Harris, J. R. Murrow, J. Hodgson, M. Egan, A. Bankey, P. G. Nikolinakos, T. Laver, K. Meichner and L. Mao, Lab Chip, 2021, 21, 1706 DOI: 10.1039/D1LC00119A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements