Journal Article DKFZ-2025-02217

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png
Fast enrichment and detection of circulating tumor cells from large volumes of whole blood of breast cancer patients utilizing a functionalized bioaffinity CTC filtration membrane.

 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;

2026
Wiley-Liss Bognor Regis

International journal of cancer 158(6), 1713-1725 () [DOI:10.1002/ijc.70216]
 GO

Abstract: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are valuable liquid biopsy analytes as they facilitate an in-depth characterization of disseminated tumors by a simple blood draw. Most CTC assays can only process limited blood volumes, potentially hampering the detection of cells of very low frequency, such as CTCs. Here, we introduce a novel, functionalized nickel filtration membrane, facilitating rapid enrichment of CTCs from various volumes of blood up to 40 mL and leukapheresis products. We validated this assay with different cancer cell lines and compared the performance of our new assay with that of the FDA-cleared CellSearch® system. Performing a comparative analysis of 20 blood samples from patients with metastatic breast cancer, CTCs were found in 19/20 patients (95%), combining the results of both CTC enrichment assays. CTC counts/7.5 mL of blood ranged from 0 to 7280 (CTC filtration membrane) and 0 to 17,190 (CellSearch®). Applying the clinically relevant cut-off of ≥5 CTCs/7.5 mL of blood, 19/20 samples processed with our CTC filter were categorized identically to those analyzed with the CellSearch® system. Furthermore, the filtration time of 40 s for 7.5 mL of blood represents an important advantage of our system, compared to other systems. Importantly, we also demonstrated the feasibility of processing blood samples of up to 40 mL or 2 × 108 nucleated blood cells in 2.5 min. Overall, our new system provides the advantage of performing ultra-rapid enrichment of CTCs and upscaling the volume of blood that can be analyzed, which opens a new avenue for studies on CTC biology.

Keyword(s): bioaffinity filter membrane ; high‐volume samples ; liquid biopsy ; rapid CTC enrichment

Classification:

Note: DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance / 2026 Mar 15;158(6):1713-1725

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. A010 Stammzellen und Krebs (A010)
Research Program(s):
  1. 311 - Zellbiologie und Tumorbiologie (POF4-311) (POF4-311)

Appears in the scientific report 2025
Database coverage:
Medline ; OpenAccess ; BIOSIS Previews ; Biological Abstracts ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Life Sciences ; DEAL Wiley ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; NationallizenzNationallizenz ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection
Click to display QR Code for this record

The record appears in these collections:
Document types > Articles > Journal Article
Public records
Publications database
Open Access

 Record created 2025-10-28, last modified 2026-03-31


OpenAccess:
Download fulltext PDF Download fulltext PDF (PDFA)
Rate this document:

Rate this document:
1
2
3
 
(Not yet reviewed)