メディエイゴ

Just as fly paper(1) captures insects, an innovative(2) new device with nano-sized(3) features developed by researchers(4) at UCLA(5) is able to grab(6) cancer(7) cells(8) in the blood that have broken off from(9) a tumor(10).

These cells, known as circulating tumor cells(11), or CTCs, can provide critical information for examining and diagnosing(12) cancer metastasis(13), determining patient prognosis(14), and monitoring the effectiveness(15) of therapies(16).

Metastasis -- the most common cause of cancer-related(17) death in patients with solid tumors(18) -- is caused by marauding(19) tumor cells that leave the primary tumor site(20) and ride in(21) the bloodstream(22) to set up(23) colonies(24) in other parts of the body.

The current gold standard(25) for examining the disease status(26) of tumors is an analysis of metastatic solid biopsy samples(27), but in the early stages of metastasis, it is often difficult to identify a biopsy site(28). By capturing CTCs, doctors can essentially perform a "liquid" biopsy(29), allowing for early detection(30) and diagnosis(31), as well as improved treatment monitoring.

To date(32), several methods have been developed to track these cells, but the UCLA team's novel "fly paper" approach may be faster and cheaper than others -- and it appears to capture far more CTCs.

In a study published this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie(33), the UCLA team developed a 1-by-2-centimeter silicon chip(34) that is covered with(35) densely packed(36) nanopillars(37) and looks like a shag carpet(38). To test cell-capture(39) performance, researchers incubated(40) the nanopillar chip in a culture medium(41) with breast cancer(42) cells. As a control, they performed a parallel experiment(43) with a cell-capture method that uses a chip with a flat surface.