Issue 54, 2022

Recent advances in micro-/nanostructure array integrated microfluidic devices for efficient separation of circulating tumor cells

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) released from the primary tumor to peripheral blood are promising targets for liquid biopsies. Their biological information is vital for early cancer detection, efficacy assessment, and prognostic monitoring. Despite the tremendous clinical applications of CTCs, development of effective separation techniques are still demanding. Traditional separation methods usually use batch processing for enrichment, which inevitably destroy cell integrity and affect the complete information acquisition. Considering the rarity and heterogeneity of CTCs, it is urgent to develop effective separation methods. Microfluidic chips with precise fluid control at the micron level are promising devices for CTC separation. Their further combination with micro-/nanostructure arrays adds more biomolecule binding sites and exhibit unique fluid barrier effect, which significantly improve the CTC capture efficiency, purity, and sensitivity. This review summarized the recent advances in micro-/nanostructure array integrated microfluidic devices for CTC separation, including microrods, nanowires, and 3D micro-/nanostructures. The mechanisms by which these structures contribute to improved capture efficiency are discussed. Two major categories of separation methods, based on the physical and biological properties of CTCs, are discussed separately. Physical separation includes the design and preparation of micro-/nanostructure arrays, while chemical separation additionally involves the selection and modification of specific capture probes. These emerging technologies are expected to become powerful tools for disease diagnosis in the future.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in micro-/nanostructure array integrated microfluidic devices for efficient separation of circulating tumor cells

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
08 10月 2022
Accepted
18 11月 2022
First published
06 12月 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 34892-34903

Recent advances in micro-/nanostructure array integrated microfluidic devices for efficient separation of circulating tumor cells

H. Kang, Y. Xiong, L. Ma, T. Yang and X. Xu, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 34892 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA06339E

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