Kit and method for the capture of tumor cells
AssigneeTaipei Medical University
InventorsRichard Li-Chern Pan, Fang-Chi Hsu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a kit and method for the capture of tumor cells in a body fluid sample or a serum-containing sample. The kit and method of the invention can capture living tumor cells but not non-living tumor cells or cell fragments so that the tumor species can be further identified by further culture of the captured tumor cells. Also, the kit and method of the invention can readily identify whether a sample contains tumor cells and collect these tumor cells for further identification so that the presence of cancer and development of the metastasis and early relapse can be identified.
Claims16
A kit for the capture of circulating tumor cells in a body fluid sample or a serum-containing sample, comprising:
- (a) a solid support;
- (b) endothelium or epithelium cells that are attached to the solid support;
- (c) white blood cells for capturing the circulating tumor cells in the body fluid sample or the serum-containing sample, which are attached on the cells of (b) or placed in a separate container;
- and
- (d) one or more inflammation-inducing agents, wherein the one or more inflammation-inducing agents induce an inflammation reaction on said attached endothelium or epithelium cells of (b) and white blood cells of (c);
- whereby upon adding the body fluid sample or serum-containing sample to the solid support the white-blood cells of (c) and the endothelium or epithelium cells of (b) capture circulating tumor cells contained in the body fluid sample or the serum-containing sample;
- and
- wherein the white blood cells are neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes or macrophages, wherein the one or more inflammation-inducing agent are tumor necrosis factors or interleukins, and wherein the body fluid sample or the serum-containing sample is pre-diluted more than 10 times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.