A novel 3D microdevice for the in vivo capture of cancer‐associated cells

Alejandro Kayum Jimenez Zenteno (1) , Aurore Estève (1) , Hélène Cayron (1) , Elise Bou (1) , David Bourrier (2) , Sylvain Sanson (3) , Denis Calise (4) , Marie-Charline Blatché (5) , Christophe Vieu (1) , Bernard Malavaud (6) , Aline Cerf (1)

1 LAAS-ELIA - Équipe Ingénierie pour les sciences du vivant
2 LAAS-TEAM - Service Techniques et Équipements Appliqués à la Microélectronique
3 CHU Toulouse - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse
4 INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
5 LAAS-I2C - Service Instrumentation Conception Caractérisation
6 IUCT Oncopole - UMR 1037 - Institut Universitaire du Cancer de Toulouse - Oncopole

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) correlate by their number to the lethal potential of the tumour and can be characterized in terms of molecular properties. The repeated isolation of living CTCs has now appeared as an unavoidable step towards their use as biomarkers in clinical routine. We introduce a 3D stealthy microdevice adapted to the in vivo capture of CTCs in the venous blood flow, on the basis of their physical characteristics, size and rigidity. Embedded in a fluidic bench mimicking an artificial arm vein, it readily captured human prostate cancer cells spiked into donor blood down to a concentration of 1,000 cells/ml. The isolation of cancer cells in venous circulation was validated in an animal model in vivo. These results open new avenues to the characterization of CTCs in prognosis, personalization of treatments and follow‐up, not only as a research tool, but also for repeated monitoring in clinical practice.

Mots clés: Direct Laser Writing; Circulating Tumor Cells; Liquid biopsy; Electroforming; In vivo

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique; Organisation et fonctions cellulaires [q-bio.SC]; Cancer; Biotechnologies

Alejandro Kayum Jimenez Zenteno, Aurore Estève, Hélène Cayron, Elise Bou, David Bourrier, et al.. A novel 3D microdevice for the in vivo capture of cancer‐associated cells. Medical Devices and Sensors, 2019, 2 (5-6), pp.e10056. ⟨10.1002/mds3.10056⟩. ⟨hal-03098347⟩