Detection of circulating tumor cells using a microfluidic chip for diagnostics and therapeutic prediction in mediastinal neuroblastoma

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have served as noninvasive tumor biomarkers in many types of cancer. Here, we detected CTCs in mediastinal neuroblastoma (mNB) patients for use as diagnostic and treatment response predictive biomarkers. We employed a cascaded filter deterministic lateral displacement microfluidic chip (CFD-Chip) to enrich CTCs in peripheral blood from 32 mNB patients and 7 healthy children. CTCs were identified by immunofluorescence staining and integrated neoplastic cell morphology. In total, 66.67% of newly diagnosed mNB patients were positive for CTCs while no CTCs were detected in healthy children. Moreover, CTC count differed significantly across different International Neuroblastoma Staging System, International Neuroblastoma Risk Group staging system, and risk stratifications. CTC count was also significantly higher in children with metastasis than those without metastasis. Additionally, CTC demonstrated a significant difference among patients with different clinical responses to therapy. CTC count decreased or fluctuated at low levels in patients with complete and partial response, compared to considerably increased in patients with stable and progressive diseases. Conclusion : CTCs may serve as non-invasive indicators for mNB diagnosis, staging, and metastasis prediction, and demonstrate promising potential as a liquid biopsy biomarker for the dynamic monitoring of therapeutic efficacy. “What is Known:” • The diagnostic and prognostic value of CTCs in many adult cancers has been revealed, while studies concerning CTC significance in mNB are lacking . “What is New:” • Here the authors harnessed a microfluidic chip to isolate CTCs in mNB peripheral blood. The CTC count differed significantly across different stages, and a higher CTC count indicated distant metastasis and a worse treatment response. These findings demonstrated that CTCs are potential liquid biopsy biomarkers for mNB diagnosis and prognosis .