Microfluidics-Enabled Isolation and Single-Cell Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells.

Microfluidic platforms enable the enrichment and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and theragnosis. Combined with immunocytochemistry/immunofluorescence (ICC/IF) assays for CTCs, microfluidics-enabled detection presents a unique opportunity to study tumor heterogeneity and predict treatment response, both of which can help cancer drug development. In this chapter, we detail the protocols and methods employed to fabricate and use a microfluidic device for the enrichment, detection, and analysis of single CTCs from the blood samples of sarcoma patients.