Isolation of living circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood using size-based device and its application to CTC biology in mice

Recently, the number of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in peripheral blood from tumor patients have been recognized as an important biomarker for patient prognosis, especially in breast and prostate cancer. Although CTC has potential as a “liquid biopsy,” it is too small in number to apply for proteomics and genetic analysis. Several devices are currently provided, but are still insufficient. Therefore, we propose a new device for separating the CTC more quickly and easily by using a metal filter consisting of a myriad of precisely electroformed holes. Additionally, a CTC mouse model was useful both to evaluate the accuracy of CTC detection as a preclinical study and to understand the fundamental role of CTC in metastasis.