ISOLATION AND DETECTION OF CANCER CELLS

摘要

Provided are methods of using polycarbonate filters to isolate and detect cancer cells in a biological fluid, particularly biological fluids, such as urine, that contain very low concentrations of cancer cells. The characterization of the isolated cells for the presence or absence of cancer specific proteins is useful for cancer diagnosis and prognosis.

主权项

1. A method of detecting a cancer cell in a biological fluid suspected of containing the cancer cell, the method comprising:
incubating the biological fluid with a reagent for fixing cells; passing the biological fluid through a filter, such that if the biological fluid contains the cancer cell, the cancer cell is retained on the filter, wherein the filter comprises a polycarbonate substrate and a plurality of pores; washing the filter; incubating the filter with at least one detectable reagent that binds to the cancer cell to form a detectable complex; washing the filter; and detecting the detectable complex directly on the filter, wherein detecting the detectable complex indicates the presence of the cancer cell in the biological fluid.