Most cancer deaths are associated with metastases resulting from the spread of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the primary tumor to vital organs. The existing methods for detection of CTCs as markers of metastasis progression are time consuming with several steps of sample processing, including red blood cell removal, labeling, immunomagnetic capture and isolation, which can lead to loss of CTCs. Here we introduce a method for detection and identification of CTCs using spectral absorption imaging of melanoma cells and optical clearing of whole blood samples. Verification of this approach was performed using phantoms of human melanoma cells and suspensions of mouse melanoma cells of line B16F10 alone and in mixture with blood. A method for improving detection sensitivity has been demonstrated applying optical clearing of mouse blood using biocompatible chemical agents. The findings suggest that the proposed diagnostic platform has the potential to detect quickly CTCs in whole blood samples from patients with melanoma.

中文翻译：

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使用光谱成像和光学清除检测全血样本中的黑色素瘤细胞

大多数癌症死亡与循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 从原发肿瘤扩散到重要器官引起的转移有关。现有的检测 CTC 作为转移进展标志物的方法非常耗时，需要进行多个样本处理步骤，包括红细胞去除、标记、免疫磁性捕获和分离，这可能导致 CTC 丢失。在这里，我们介绍了一种使用黑色素瘤细胞的光谱吸收成像和全血样品的光学清除来检测和识别 CTC 的方法。使用人黑色素瘤细胞模型和 B16F10 系小鼠黑色素瘤细胞悬浮液单独和与血液混合对这种方法进行了验证。已经证明了使用生物相容性化学试剂对小鼠血液进行光学清除来提高检测灵敏度的方法。研究结果表明，提议的诊断平台有可能快速检测黑色素瘤患者全血样本中的 CTC。