An automated high-throughput counting method for screening circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood.

Enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has proved valuable for early detection and prognosis in cancer treatment. This paper describes an automated high-throughput counting method for CTCs based on microfluidics and line-confocal microscopy. Peripheral blood was directly labeled with multiple antibodies, each conjugated with a different fluorophore, pneumatically pumped through a microfluidic channel, and interrogated by a line-confocal microscope.

Sensitive and high-throughput isolation of rare cells from peripheral blood with ensemble-decision aliquot ranking.

This paper describes an approach called ensemble decision aliquot ranking (eDAR) for isolating rare cells from peripheral blood. eDAR has a recovery of over 93% with a zero false positive rate , and provides direct easy access to individual isolated live cells for downstream single-cell manipulation and analysis. We anticipate eDAR will enable new studies of various types of rare cells that circulate in blood.