Capture of live circulating tumor cells via unique surface charges from cancer patients by a novel nanotechnology

Abstract Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) serve as a pivotal foundation for both fundamental oncological research and the precise evaluation of therapeutic interventions. However, the isolation of CTCs from clinical blood samples presents a multitude of sophisticated challenges, predominantly associated with the specificity of biomarkers and the sensitivity of detection techniques. In our previous study, we proposed a novel detection concept for CTCs based on a signature biophysical feature on the surface of cancer cells: a negative charge regulated by glycolytic processes. In this study, we have conducted experiments to ascertain the efficacy of this proposed method in capturing CTCs from clinical blood samples of individuals afflicted with solid tumors and leukemia. Our findings indicate that the method is capable of isolating tens of thousands of viable cancer cells from various metastatic solid cancers and leukemia using a mere 1 mL of blood. These cells were enumerated using cytological imaging that identified morphological characteristics indicative of malignancy. The outcomes of our study suggest that the negatively charged surface of cancer cells is a ubiquitous trait across both cultured cancer cell lines and fresh blood samples derived from cancer patients. Moreover, the capture technology employed in this study demonstrated superior performance in comparison to antecedent methodologies, enhancing the detection and documentation of CTCs for subsequent verification and analysis. This advancement holds significant promise for the improvement of diagnostic accuracy and the monitoring of therapeutic responses in oncology.