Table 3.
Performances of reported physical-based separation technologies in clinical studies.
| Separation Method | Technology | Blood Sample Volume | Cancer Type | Number of CTCs | Detection Sensitivity | Remaining WBCs/mL | Downstream Analysis | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microfiltration | Microellipse filters | 2–3 mL | Metastatic (M)-breast cancer (n = 4), Colon (n = 1), NSCLC (n = 12) |
1–10/2–3 mL, 6–10/2–3 mL, 1–20/2–3 mL |
100% (17/17) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [30] |
| Microfiltration | Microfluidic ratchets | 2 mL | M-castrate-resistant prostate cancer (n = 20) | Median 178/7.5 mL | 95% (19/20) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [29] |
| Microfiltration | Rectangular MCA | 2–4 mL | SCLC (n = 16) | 1–73/mL (Median 2/mL) |
100% (16/16) | 854 ± 306 (Median) |
Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [45] |
| Microfiltration | Pyramidal MCA | 1–3 mL | Breast (n = 3), Lung (n = 3) |
23–86/mL, 0–48/mL |
83% (5/6) | 396–3845 | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [46] |
| Microfiltration | Parsortix™ | 4 mL | Breast (n = 10), Colon (n = 10), Lung (n = 6) |
0–3/mL, 0–1/mL, 0–7/mL |
38% (10/26) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, molecular characterization (RT-PCR and array-based comparative genomic hybridization) | [41] |
| Hydrodynamics (Inertial focusing) | Multi-flow straight channel | 2 mL | M-NSCLC (n = 8) | Median 12/mL | 75% (6/8) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [58] |
| Hydrodynamics (DFF) | ClearCell | 7.5 mL | Lung (n = 15), Breast (n = 15) |
12–549/mL (Median 97), 12–322/mL (Median 44) |
100% (30/30) | 9–29,824 (Median 3109) |
Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, FISH, ICE-COLD PCR, Sanger sequencing, cell culture | [70] |
| Hydrodynamics (DFF) | Labyrinth (spiral channel w/sharp corners) | 7.5 mL | Pancreatic (n = 20), M-Breast (n = 56) |
0–63/mL (Mean 51.6 ± 25.5), 0–21.7/mL (Mean 5.4 ± 4.6) |
95% (72/76) | 663 ± 647 | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, single-cell multiplex gene profiling (multiplex qRT-PCR) | [71] |
| Hydrodynamics (Microvortices) | Vortex HT | ~8 mL | M-Breast (n = 22), M-Lung (n = 15) |
0.75–23.25/mL (Mean 5.4), 0.5–24.2/mL (Mean 5.3) |
84% (31/37) | 187 ± 164 | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, Single-cell RT-PCR, cell culture, pharmacological studies, single-cell Western blotting |
[60] |
| Dielectrophoresis | Apostream™ | 7.5 mL | M-NSCLC adenocarcinoma (n = 14), Breast (n = 20), M-ovarian (n = 6), Squamous lung (n = 6) |
47–216/7.5 mL (Mean 89), 0–36/7.5 mL (Mean 9), 0–5/7.5 mL (Mean 2), 0–4/7.5 mL (Mean 1) |
87% (40/46) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, phenotypic analysis by laser scanning cytometry | [81] |