Volmer Léa L, Önder Cansu E, Volz Barbara, Singh Anjali R, Brucker Sara Y, Engler Tobias, Hartkopf Andreas D, Koch André
Research Institute for Women's Health, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Women's Health, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 11;24(18):13930. doi: 10.3390/ijms241813930.
Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in the bone marrow (BM) of breast cancer (BC) patients are putative precursors of metastatic disease, and their presence is associated with an adverse clinical outcome. To achieve the personalization of therapy on a clinical routine level, the characterization of DTCs and in vitro drug testing on DTCs are of great interest. Therefore, biobanking methods, as well as novel approaches to DTC isolation, need to be developed. In this study, we established a protocol for the biobanking of BM samples and evaluated a microfluidic-based separation system (Parsortix) for the enrichment of cryopreserved DTCs. We were able to successfully isolate viable DTCs after the prior cryopreservation of BM samples. We calculated a significant increase of up to 90-fold in harvested DTCs with the proposed method compared to the current standard techniques, opening up new analysis possibilities for DTCs. Our advanced method further presents options for 3D DTC cultures, enabling the individualized testing of targeted therapies for BC patients. In conclusion, we present a novel approach for DTC enrichment, with possibilities for future clinical implications.
乳腺癌（BC）患者骨髓（BM）中的播散肿瘤细胞（DTCs）是转移性疾病的假定前体，其存在与不良临床结果相关。为了在临床常规水平上实现治疗的个性化，DTCs的表征以及对DTCs的体外药物测试备受关注。因此，需要开发生物样本库方法以及新型DTCs分离方法。在本研究中，我们建立了BM样本生物样本库的方案，并评估了一种基于微流控的分离系统（Parsortix）用于富集冷冻保存的DTCs。在BM样本预先冷冻保存后，我们能够成功分离出有活力的DTCs。与当前标准技术相比，我们计算得出采用所提出的方法收获的DTCs显著增加，高达90倍，为DTCs开辟了新的分析可能性。我们的先进方法还为3D DTC培养提供了选择，能够对BC患者进行靶向治疗的个体化测试。总之，我们提出了一种DTCs富集的新方法，具有未来临床应用的可能性。
