Work

Discrimination between Breast Cancer Cells and White Blood Cells by Non-Invasive Measurements: Implications for a Novel In Vitro-Based Circulating Tumor Cell Model Using Digital Holographic Cytometry

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide. Metastasis is the main reason for death in breast cancer, and today, there is a lack of methods to detect and isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs), mainly due to their heterogeneity and rarity. There are some systems that are designed to detect rare epithelial cancer cells in whole blood based on the most common marker used today, the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). It has been shown that aggressive breast cancer metastases are of non-epithelial origin and are therefore not always detected using EpCAM as a marker. In the present study, we used an in vitro-based circulating tumor cell model comprising a collection of six breast cancer cell lines and white blood cell lines. We used digital holographic cytometry (DHC) to characterize and distinguish between the different cell types by area, volume and thickness. Here, we present significant differences in cell size-related parameters observed when comparing white blood cells and breast cancer cells by using DHC. In conclusion, DHC can be a powerful diagnostic tool for the characterization of CTCs in the blood.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app10144854

Authors: Zahra El-Schich, Birgit Janicke, Kersti Alm, Nishtman Dizeyi, Jenny L. Persson, Anette Gjörloff Wingren

Institutions: Malmö University, Lund University, Umeå University

Language: English

Topic: Digital Holography and Microscopy

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,630