Method for cancer detection, diagnosis and prognosis
AssigneesCalifornia Institute of Technology, Univeristy of Southern California
InventorsAmir Goldkorn, Yu-Chong Tai, Tong Xu, Bo Lu
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method for diagnosing cancer, predicting a disease outcome or response to therapy in a patient sample. The method involves isolating a circulating tumor cell (CTC), for example, a viable CTC, from a sample using a parylene microfilter device comprising a membrane filter having or consisting of a parylene substrate, which has an array of holes with a predetermined shape and size; and detecting and quantifying telomerase activity in blood circulating tumor cells. The invention further provides methods of using cells live-captured in various applications.
Claims8
A system for isolating a circulating tumor cell, said system comprising:
- a parylene microfilter device comprising a membrane filter consisting of a parylene substrate having an array of holes with a predetermined shape and dimension, wherein the holes on the membrane filter have a rectangular shape each with a dimension of 6 μm by about 40 μm;
- and
- a constant pressure delivery system coupled to the parylene microfilter device for maintaining a constant pressure, wherein the isolated circulating tumor cells are isolated with at least 90% efficiency and with an enrichment of at least 200-fold, and wherein the isolated circulating tumor cells have at least a 90% cell viability.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.