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Circulating tumor cells (CTC) capture and identification in vivo. (A) Schematic overview of CellCollector and in vivo application. The CellCollector wire is coated with anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (anti-EpCAM) antibodies and placed into the arm vein of cancer patients for 30 min to bind EpCAM-positive cells to the CellCollector; (B) The tumor cells are stained for EpCAM and keratins. Nuclear counterstain is done using Hoechst33342. CD45 staining is necessary to classify false positive events (leukocytes). Scale bars, 10 μm; (C) Images of CTCs isolated with the CellCollector. Tumor cells were identified as EpCAM and/or pan-keratin-positive (green) and CD45-negative (red) events. Hoechst33342 (blue) was used for nuclear counterstain. Scale bars, 10 μm.