title: Highly dense, optically inactive silica microbeads for the isolation and identification of circulating tumor cells.
abstract: Efficient isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood is a major challenge for the clinical application of CTCs. Here, we report an efficient method to isolate CTCs from whole blood using highly dense and transparent silica microbeads. The surfaces of silica microbeads were fully covered with an antibody to capture CTCs, and blocked by zwitterionic moieties to prevent the non-specific adsorption of blood cells. Owing to the high density of the silica microbeads, the complexation of CTCs with silica microbeads resulted in the efficient sedimentation of CTC-microbead complexes, which enabled their discrimination from other blood cells in density gradient media. Model CTCs (MCF-7, HCC827, and SHP-77) with various levels of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) were isolated efficiently, especially those with low EpCAM expression (SHP-77). Moreover, the transparency of silica microbeads enabled CTCs to be clearly identified without interference caused by microbeads. The improved sensitivity resulted in increased CTC recovery from patient samples compared with the FDA-approved CellSearch system (14/15 using our method; 5/15 using the CellSearch system). These results indicate that the isolation method described in this report constitutes a powerful tool for the isolation of CTCs from whole blood, which has important applications in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Chang Eun
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hui-Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yeon Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Myeon
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Donghyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Yeon
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Keunchil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Mu
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Samsung Genome Institute (SGI), Samsung Medical Center (SMC), Seoul 135-710, South Korea; Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, South Korea. Electronic address: woongyang.park@samsung.com.
authors.forename: Woong-Yang
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D000071858:Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule; D006801:Humans; D060328:Magnetic Phenomena; D008863:Microspheres; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D000071858:Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Circulating tumor cells(CTC); Lab-on-a-disc; Microbeads; Silica