BACKGROUND The most convenient circulating tumor cells (CTCs) identification method is direct analysis of cells under bright field microscopy by which CTCs can be comprehensive studied based on morphology, phenotype or even cellular function. However, universal cell markers and a standard tumour cell map do not exist, thus limiting the clinical application of CTCs. RESULTS This paper focuses on an automatic and convenient negative depletion strategy for circulating tumour cell identification under bright field microscopy. In this strategy, immune microparticles (IMPs) are applied to negatively label white blood cells rather than the tumour cells, such that tumour cells can be directly distinguished under brightfield of the microscopy. In this way, all of the heterogeneous tumour cells and their phenotype properties can be retained for further cancer-related studies. In addition, a wedge-shaped microfluidic chip is constructed for heterogeneous CTC pre-purification and enrichment by size, thus significantly decreasing the interference of haematological cells. Additionally, all cell treatments are processed automatically, and the tumour cells can be rapidly counted and distinguished via customized cell analytical software, showing high detection efficiency and automation. This IMPs based negative cell labelling strategy can also be combined with other classic cell identification methods, thus demonstrating its excellent compatibility. CONCLUSION This identification strategy features simple and harmless for tumour cells, as well as excellent accuracy and efficiency. And the low equipment demand and high automation level make it promise for extensive application in basic medical institutions.

中文翻译：

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基于微粒的微流控芯片上的负耗竭介导的明场循环肿瘤细胞鉴定策略。

背景技术最方便的循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）鉴定方法是在明场显微镜下直接分析细胞，从而可以基于形态学，表型甚至细胞功能全面研究CTCs。然而，不存在通用细胞标记物和标准肿瘤细胞图谱，因此限制了CTC的临床应用。结果本文重点研究了一种自动方便的负耗竭策略，用于在明亮视野显微镜下鉴定循环肿瘤细胞。在这种策略中，将免疫微粒（IMPs）应用于负标记白细胞而不是肿瘤细胞，从而可以在显微镜的明场下直接区分肿瘤细胞。通过这种方式，所有异质性肿瘤细胞及其表型特性都可以保留下来，用于进一步的癌症相关研究。此外，构建了楔形微流控芯片，用于异质CTC的预纯化和大小富集，从而显着降低了血液细胞的干扰。此外，所有细胞治疗均被自动处理，并且可通过定制的细胞分析软件对肿瘤细胞进行快速计数和区分，从而显示出很高的检测效率和自动化程度。这种基于IMPs的阴性细胞标记策略也可以与其他经典的细胞识别方法结合使用，从而证明了其出色的兼容性。结论该鉴定策略具有对肿瘤细胞简单且无害的特点，并且具有极好的准确性和效率。