Capture of Circulatory Tumor Cells

The capture of circulating tumor cells (also known as CTCs) in peripheral blood is significant to decide the risk of metastasis in cancer patients. To capture the CTCs from a small amount of peripheral blood, a new CTC capture chip is designed based on three-dimensional carbon nanotube (3D CNT) sponges. Without tumor-specific antibodies, the CTC capture chip can efficiently capture CTCs from 1 ml peripheral blood in less than 60 minutes. The captured CTCs can be recovered and remains vital for long-term in vitro cell culture. The captured CTCs demonstrate high binding affinity and aggressive synthesis rate of extracellular matrix on the CNT sponges.