Table 6.
Performances of reported biological-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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface affinity | HBCTC-Chip | 4 mL | M-prostate (n = 15) M-pancreatic (n = 15) |
12–3167/mL (Median 63) 1–57/mL (Median 11) |
93% (14/15) -- |
-- 165–11,190 |
Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, molecular characterization (RT-PCR, single-molecule RNA sequencing) | [94,95] |
| Surface affinity | NanoVelcro Chip | 1 mL | Prostate (n = 26) | 0–33/mL | 81% (21/26) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [97] |
| Surface affinity | NP-HBCTC-Chip | 3–4 mL | M-breast (n = 4) | 6–12/mL (Median 7.4) | 100% (4/4) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, next-generation RNA sequencing | [99] |
| Surface affinity | PEDOT NanoVelcro Chip | -- | Prostate (n = 17) | 1–7/mL | 100% (17/17) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, RT-qPCR | [105] |
| Immunomagnetic | Integrated Ni microstructures | 5–10 mL | M-colon (n = 1) M-lung (n = 1) M-prostate (n = 1) M-breast (n = 10) |
1/5 mL 1/10 mL 13/7.5 mL 0.1–43/mL |
100% (13/13) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, FISH | [110] |
| Immunomagnetic | MagRC | 10 mL | M-castration-resistant prostate (n = 10) Prostate (n = 14) |
9–48/10 mL 16–95/10 mL |
100% (24/24) | 2000 | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, phenotypic profiling | [112] |
| Immunomagnetic | Immunomagnetic nanosphere patterns | 0.6–0.8 mL | M-Lung (n = 6) M-Gastric (n = 1) M-Gastric antrum (n = 1) Lymphatic metastasis (n = 1) M-Liver (n = 1) |
2–12/0.8 mL 6/0.8 mL 9/0.8 mL 4/0.6 mL 9/0.8 mL |
100% (10/10) | -- | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration | [120] |
| DFF and Immunomagnetic |
Integrated spiral module, passive mixer, and magnetic sorter | 1.4 mL (6.5 mL for miRNA analysis) | Pancreatic (n = 14) | 14–938/mL (Mean 146 ± 231) |
100% (14/14) | 0–389 (Mean 42.4 ± 101) | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, microRNA and mRNA profiling (qRT-PCR) | [133] |
| DLD and Immunomagnetic |
CTC-iChip | 5–10 mL | Melanoma (n = 2) Lung (n = 9) M-Prostate (n = 2) Breast (n = 26 |
1.2/mL 7.9/mL -- 9.6/mL |
100% (39/39) | 445 | Immunofluorescence staining and enumeration, size and phenotypic profiling using imaging flow cytometry | [135] |