Abstract 4967: Label-free collection of prostate circulating tumor cells using microfluidic Vortex technology

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer is among the most common cancers in men worldwide. Better markers than Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) are still needed for the detection and monitoring of disease progression. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are shed into the blood stream from primary tumor(s) and may play key roles in the metastatic process. Liquid biopsies have emerged as a promising approach, with a correlation between the CTC numbers and patient prognosis for prostate cancer. CTCs have also been shown to enable early detection of recurrence, and could be potential candidates for guiding cancer therapy in real-time [1]. Current CTC enrichment technologies, including immuno-affinity and size-based filtration methods, have focused on high capture efficiency with sometimes tedious sample preparation and overall low purity. METHOD Here, we describe the use of the microfluidic Vortex Chip [2] for rapid and size-based isolation of CTCs from the blood of 23 patients with advanced prostate cancer, and 10 healthy donors; 5 being