Editor's Summary
20 December 2007
Out of circulation
Viable tumour-derived epithelial cells — or circulating tumour cells (CTCs) — are found in peripheral blood from cancer patients, and are the probable origin of intractable metastatic disease. The isolation of such cells from cancer patients has been proven to be very difficult, primarily due to their exceedingly low numbers in peripheral blood. Now a microfluidic platform 'CTC-chip' has been developed, capable of selective, efficient separation of CTCs from the blood of cancer patients. This new tool could be used in the detection and diagnosis of cancers, and to monitor an individual patient's response to therapy.
News and Views: Cancer diagnostics: One-stop shop
Detecting cancer early and monitoring its progress non-invasively are high on oncologists' agenda. So the design of a neat device that detects and counts cancer cells shed into the blood by tumours is a welcome advance.
Jonathan W. Uhr
doi:10.1038/4501168a
Letter: Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology
Sunitha Nagrath, Lecia V. Sequist, Shyamala Maheswaran, Daphne W. Bell, Daniel Irimia, Lindsey Ulkus, Matthew R. Smith, Eunice L. Kwak, Subba Digumarthy, Alona Muzikansky, Paula Ryan, Ulysses J. Balis, Ronald G. Tompkins, Daniel A. Haber & Mehmet Toner
doi:10.1038/nature06385
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