Tumor-initiating cells (TICs), a subpopulation of cancerous cells with high tumorigenic potential and stem-cell-like properties, drive tumor progression and are resistant to conventional therapies. Identification and isolation of TICs are limited by their low frequency and lack of robust markers. Here, we characterize the heterogeneous adhesive properties of a panel of human and murine cancer cells and demonstrate differences in adhesion strength among cells, which exhibit TIC properties and those that do not. These differences in adhesion strength were exploited to rapidly (~10 min) and efficiently isolate cancerous cells with increased tumorigenic potential in a label-free manner by use of a microfluidic technology. Isolated murine and human cancer cells gave rise to larger tumors with increased growth rate and higher frequency in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice, respectively. This rapid and label-free TIC isolation technology has the potential to be a valuable tool for facilitating research into TIC biology and the development of more efficient diagnostics and cancer therapies.

中文翻译：

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基于流体动力学剪切的提纯的癌细胞具有增强的致瘤潜力。

肿瘤起始细胞（TICs）是具有高致癌潜力和干细胞样特性的癌细胞亚群，可驱动肿瘤进展并对常规疗法具有抵抗力。TIC的识别和分离受到其频率低和缺乏可靠标记的限制。在这里，我们表征了一组人类和鼠类癌细胞的异质粘附特性，并展示了细胞之间的粘附强度差异，这些差异表现出TIC特性，而没有TIC特性。利用微流技术以无标记的方式利用这些粘附强度的差异快速（〜10分钟）并有效地分离出具有增加的致癌潜力的癌细胞。分离的鼠类和人类癌细胞分别在具有免疫能力的小鼠和免疫受损的小鼠中产生了具有增加的生长率和更高频率的更大的肿瘤。这种快速且无标签的TIC分离技术有可能成为促进TIC生物学研究以及开发更有效的诊断和癌症疗法的宝贵工具。