Abstract

New Tools for Liquid Biopsies: Microfluidic Platforms for the Efficient Isolation and Molecular Profiling of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs), Cell Free DNA (cfDNA) and Nanovesicles (Exosomes)

Steve Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor; Director, Center of BioModular Multi-scale System for Precision Medicine, Adjunct Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology, The University of Kansas

Liquid biopsies are generating great interest within the biomedical community due to the simplicity for securing important biomarkers to manage complex diseases, such as many of the cancer-related diseases. These circulating markers consist of CTCs, cfDNA and exosomes. We are developing a suite of microfluidic devices that are can process whole blood directly and engineered to efficiently search for a variety of disease-associated liquid biopsy markers from divergent subpopulations comprising the tumor microenvironment that can supply complementary clinical information. Each microfluidic device can isolate the target with recovery >90% and sufficient purity (>80%) to enable downstream molecular analysis of the particular biomarker. The microfluidic devices are made from thermoplastics via injection molding to allow for mass-production of devices with tight compliancy to accommodate clinical implementation. In this presentation, information will be shared on the operational parameters of these devices for the selection of liquid biopsy markers, and the downstream molecular information that can be garnered from the isolated markers in diseases such as colorectal, ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers as well as some of the liquid-based cancers (acute myeloid leukemia).