Micro/nanofluidic technologies for efficient isolation and detection of circulating tumor cells.

Sensitive detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is of great importance for early cancer diagnosis. However, the number of CTCs is very rare in the peripheral blood. Therefore, there is an urgent demand to develop new methods to efficiently isolate and detect trace amount of CTCs. Among various methods and analytical platforms, micro/nanofluidic technologies have been demonstrated as a great promising approach in both CTCs isolation and subsequent cell culture as well as downstream assays. In this review, we summarize the current advances in micro/nanofluidics based technologies for CTCs isolation and detection. The characterizations of CTCs are firstly introduced, and then the micro/nanofluidic technologies for isolation and release of CTCs based on various principles are summarized. After that we discuss the detection methods including fluorescence, Raman, electrochemical detection, and the downstream characterization of CTCs. Finally, we provide a perspective on the future of innovative microfluidic platforms for CTCs study. • Sensitive isolation and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is of great importance for early cancer diagnosis. • Micro/nanofluidic technologies for isolation and release of CTCs based on various principles are summarized.. • Different CTCs detection methods are discussed including fluorescence, Raman, and electrochemical methods. • The perspective on the future of innovative micro/nanofluidic platforms for CTCs study is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]