Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Lab Chip. 2014 Feb 21;14(4):626-45. doi: 10.1039/c3lc90136j.
Rare cells are low-abundance cells in a much larger population of background cells. Conventional benchtop techniques have limited capabilities to isolate and analyze rare cells because of their generally low selectivity and significant sample loss. Recent rapid advances in microfluidics have been providing robust solutions to the challenges in the isolation and analysis of rare cells. In addition to the apparent performance enhancements resulting in higher efficiencies and sensitivity levels, microfluidics provides other advanced features such as simpler handling of small sample volumes and multiplexing capabilities for high-throughput processing. All of these advantages make microfluidics an excellent platform to deal with the transport, isolation, and analysis of rare cells. Various cellular biomarkers, including physical properties, dielectric properties, as well as immunoaffinities, have been explored for isolating rare cells. In this Focus article, we discuss the design considerations of representative microfluidic devices for rare cell isolation and analysis. Examples from recently published works are discussed to highlight the advantages and limitations of the different techniques. Various applications of these techniques are then introduced. Finally, a perspective on the development trends and promising research directions in this field are proposed.
稀有细胞是在数量庞大的背景细胞中数量较少的细胞。由于传统的台式技术通常选择性低，且样本损失较大，因此其在分离和分析稀有细胞方面的能力有限。最近，微流控技术的快速发展为稀有细胞的分离和分析带来了强大的解决方案。除了明显的性能提升，带来更高的效率和灵敏度水平之外，微流控还提供了其他先进的功能，例如更简单地处理小样本量和用于高通量处理的多路复用能力。所有这些优势使微流控成为处理稀有细胞的运输、分离和分析的绝佳平台。各种细胞生物标志物，包括物理特性、介电特性以及免疫亲和性，已被探索用于分离稀有细胞。在这篇专题文章中，我们讨论了用于稀有细胞分离和分析的代表性微流控设备的设计考虑因素。讨论了最近发表的作品中的示例，以突出不同技术的优势和局限性。然后介绍了这些技术的各种应用。最后，提出了该领域的发展趋势和有前途的研究方向的观点。
