Liquid Biopsy of Solid Tumors on a Spinning Disc

Abstract

In this presentation, our recent efforts on the liquid biopsy application for personalized cancer diagnostics will be discussed in detail. First, we will introduce the fluid-assisted separation technology (FAST), where the size-based separation event occurs not in conventional liquid-gas interface but in liquid-liquid interface stably prepared in a centrifugal microfluidic device. This provides ultrafast, uniform, clog-free, and highly efficient filtration with pressure drop much less than in conventional filtration. We used the FAST mechanism for enriching circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood without prior sample treatment and could achieve highly sensitive (>95.9% recovery), selective (~3.0 log depletion of white blood cells), rapid (< 3 mL/min), and label-free enumeration of rare CTCs. We demonstrate the clinical utility of the point-of-care detection of CTCs with samples taken from patients suffering from breast, stomach, or lung cancer. Next, we will present a rapid, label-free, and highly sensitive method for Extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolation and quantification using a lab-on-a-disc integrated with two nanofilters (Exodisc). Urinary EVs from bladder cancer patients could be automatically enriched within 30 min using a tabletop-sized centrifugal microfluidic system followed by molecular analysis or on-chip ELISA. We believe that this revolutionary method can contribute to accelerate the acceptance of CTC or EV-based cancer diagnostics as a standard practice in clinical settings.