Table 1.

Summarized applications of microfluidic single-cell analysis in cancer biology, diagnosis, and therapy

App Category	Research Area	Substrates	Cancer Cells	Cell Capture Techniques	Detection Method	Study Focus	Ref
Cancer Biology	Cell-cell interaction	PDMS	Human leukemia cells	Droplet trap	Phasor-FLIM	Label-free singl- cell screening and interaction between cancer cells and fibroblasts	[113]
		PDMS	PC3 cells	Mechanical trap (Electrolytic valve)	LIVE/DEAD fluorescence staining assay	Cell proliferation during coculture	[114]
	Cell metastasis	PDMS	Breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB- 231, SUM- 159)	Mechanical trap (Microhook)	Transwell migration assay	Cell migration regulated by overexpression of MCPIP1	[118]
		PDMS	CTCs	Mechanical trap (Herringbone structure)	Three-color immunocytochemistry method	Heterogeneous secretion profile studies of IL-8 and VEGF in cancer patients’ blood samples	[119]
Cancer Diagnosis	Genetic Analysis	Glass	PD7591, PD483 and PD798	Mechanical trap	Fluorescence detection	Successful gene sequencing	[123]
		PDMS	Breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA- MB-231)	Droplet trap	Fluorescence detection	miRNA over expression in cancer cells	[26]
		PDMS	Raji B-lymphocyte cells	Droplet trap	Barcoding Hydrogel Beads	Generating genes sequence-ready libraries	[124]
		PDMS	HT-29	Droplet trap	Fluorescence detection	Detecting of CNVs and SNVs	[126]
	Protein Analysis	PDMS	HepG2	Mechanical trap	Fluorescence detection	Quantification of exosomes	[115]
		PDMS	HepG2	Mechanical trap	Fluorescence detection	Diversity in the single-cell protease activity	[133]
		Hydrogel	Breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231)	Droplet trap	Fluorescence detection	No cytokines secretions in MCF7, cytokines secretions in MDA-MB-231	[27]
		PDMS	U-937	Mechanical trap	Fluorescence detection	Advance sensitivity of soluble proteins detection	[134]
		PDMS	U-937 and HEK 293	Mechanical trap	Fluorescence detection	Detection of low concentration of the enzyme GAPDH	[135]
Cancer Therapy	Drug Discovery	PDMS	CTCs	Mechanical trap	Immunofluorescence staining	CTCs expansion approach for drug screening and patient therapeutic monitoring	[144]
		PDMS	MCF-7	Droplet trap	LIVE/DEAD fluorescence staining assay	Quantitatively drug screening	[116]
	Immunotherapy	PDMS	NK-92; RPMI-8226	Droplet trap	fluorescence staining assay	Activity-based screening and molecular immunotherapy	[149]
		PDMS	Jurkat E6.1; K562; TCR T	Droplet trap	Fluorescence; PCR and sequencing	TCR T cell screening with TCR tracking for immunotherapy	[152]

CNV: copy number variation; CTC: circulating tumor cell; FLIM: fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; IL-8: interleukin-8; MCPIP1: monocyte chemotactic protein induced protein 1; PC: prostate cancer; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; PDMS: polydimethylsiloxane; SNV: single nucleotide variation; TCR: T cell receptor; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor.