METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR DETECTING RARE CELLS FROM A BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE

摘要

The invention provides methods and compositions for isolating and detecting rare cells from a sample containing other types of cells. In particular, the invention includes a debulking step that can use a microfabricated filter or a cell lysis step or density-based methods to remove certain types of cells, and immobilization methods to remove other types of cells. The invention also includes a method for determining the number or proportion of cancer cells in a biological sample by detecting the presence or amount of telomerase activity or telomerase nucleic acid or telomerase expression after enrichment of rare cells. This invention further provides an efficient and rapid method to specifically remove red blood cells as well as white blood cells from a biological sample, resulting in the enrichment of rare target cells. The presence or level of target cells provides information about various physiological conditions, such as cancer.