Background: Since circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are precursors of
metastatic lesions, extracting CTCs from whole blood is useful in
obtaining information for cancer treatment. One of the CTC extraction
methods is the size selection method; however, since the conventional
methods are expensive and cumbersome, we developed an affordable and
simple filter, whose usefulness is verified in this study. Methods: The
new filter (hereafter, soft micropore filter [SMPF]) is made up of a
polyethylene film with a thickness of 15 μm and conical pores having a
diameter of 8–10 μm, which are opened uniformly (opening rate, 20%).
This filter can filter whole blood by free-falling under gravity. The
possibilities of the filter’s usage for model CTC extraction,
immunostaining, short-term cell culture, and gene mutation detection in
extracted model CTCs were verified. Results: S-MPF was able to extract
model CTCs with an extraction rate of up to 15%. These model CTCs were
detected by cytology, immunostaining, and culture by short-term
incubation of filtered cells. Furthermore, genetic mutations were
identified in the cultured cells. In addition, CTC extraction from the
peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer was demonstrated by
setting the volume of collected blood to 15 mL to prevent a low recovery
rate. Conclusions: The S-MPF can be used to extract model CTCs quickly
and easily. Moreover, cytological diagnosis, immunostaining, short-term
culture, and gene mutation search are possible with this filter. Given
its proven applicability in clinical samples, this sample can be used in
clinical settings.
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