Detecting heterogenic tumor cells that are traveling in our body through blood stream for the tumor metastasis is one way for cancer prognosis. Due to the heterogeneity of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), further identification of tumor cell types should be accompanied with CTCs isolation from blood cells in peripheral blood sample. Both negative enrichment and recollection of isolated CTCs are required in the downstream analysis, which are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and massive equipment required. To solve these limitations, we have developed a simple and disposable spiral shape microfluidic channel that can separate all CTCs from blood cells, and at the same time, can identify the types of CTCs based on epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) expression level. Two different types of tumor cells, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, both from the same origin of breast carcinoma cells, were used to demonstrate the functionality of the developed system. The spiral channel system could capture the EpCAM positive and negative CTCs with 96.3% and 81.2% purity, respectively, while both EpCAM positive and negative CTCs were differently positioned along the microfluidic channel. The average selectivity of EpCAM positive and negative CTCs is 6.1:4.8. In addition, the throughput of the system was optimized at a sample flow rate of 150 µl/min. The developed system successfully demonstrated its potential to identify biomarkers, including EpCAM, for detecting the heterogenic CTCs.

检测在人体中通过血流传播的异源性肿瘤细胞是否发生肿瘤转移是癌症预后的一种方法。由于循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）的异质性，应进一步从周围血样中的血细胞中分离出CTC，以进一步鉴定肿瘤细胞类型。在下游分析中，既需要对富集的CTC进行负富集又要对其进行回收，这既费时，费力又需要大量设备。为了解决这些局限性，我们开发了一种简单的一次性螺旋形微流控通道，该通道可以将所有CTC与血细胞分离，同时可以根据上皮细胞粘附分子（EpCAM）的表达水平识别CTC的类型。两种不同类型的肿瘤细胞，MCF-7和MDA-MB-231，两者均来自相同来源的乳腺癌细胞，用于证明所开发系统的功能。螺旋通道系统可以分别捕获纯度为96.3％和81.2％的EpCAM正负CTC，而EpCAM正负CTC沿微流通道的位置不同。EpCAM正和负CTC的平均选择性为6.1：4.8。此外，在150 µl / min的样品流速下，系统的通量得到了优化。研发的系统成功展示了其识别生物标志物（包括EpCAM）以检测异源CTC的潜力。分别将EpCAM阳性和阴性CTC沿微流体通道定位的位置不同。EpCAM正和负CTC的平均选择性为6.1：4.8。此外，在150 µl / min的样品流速下，系统的通量得到了优化。研发的系统成功展示了其识别生物标志物（包括EpCAM）以检测异源CTC的潜力。分别，而EpCAM阳性和阴性CTC沿微流通道的位置不同。EpCAM正和负CTC的平均选择性为6.1：4.8。此外，在150 µl / min的样品流速下，系统的通量得到了优化。研发的系统成功展示了其识别生物标志物（包括EpCAM）以检测异源CTC的潜力。