A device that uses a filtration-based system has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to monitor circulating cancer cells by counting the number of cells. But scientists are now testing their ability to analyze cells captured from blood in the sophisticated ways that pathologists can do with tissue from biopsies. For that, they need to capture more cells.
Toner's team had previously developed a microfluidics chip that could isolate enough cells to detect a specific mutation in a gene for the epidermal growth factor receptor. The mutation suggests that patients will respond to drugs designed to inhibit this pathway. (Other researchers have shown that the FDA-approved device can also detect a molecular marker linked to drug response.)
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