Rare cancer cell analyzer for whole blood applications: automated nucleic acid purification in a microfluidic disposable card.
One current challenge facing point-of-care cancer detection is that existing methods make it difficult, time consuming and too costly to (1) collect relevant cell types directly from a patient sample, such as blood and (2) rapidly assay those cell types to determine the presence or absence of a particular type of cancer. We present a proof of principle method for an integrated, sample-to-result, point-of-care detection device that employs microfluidics technology, accepted assays, and a silica membrane for total RNA purification on a disposable, credit card sized laboratory-on-card ('lab card") device in which results are obtained in minutes. Both yield and quality of on-card purified total RNA, as determined by both LightCycler and standard reverse transcriptase amplification of G6PDH and BCR-ABL transcripts, were found to be better than or equal to accepted standard purification methods.
Kokoris
M
M
Micronics, Inc., Redmond, WA 98052, USA.
Nabavi
M
M
Lancaster
C
C
Clemmens
J
J
Maloney
P
P
Capadanno
J
J
Gerdes
J
J
Battrell
C F
CF
D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D020014:K562 Cells; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D012313:RNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D012313:RNA; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl