UC Irvine

Early cancer detection results in higher survival rates for patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) traveling through the blood can be used for early cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, these CTCs are rare (as low as 1 CTC per billion red blood cells), limiting their use in early diagnostic applications. A substantial amount of research suggests a correlation between the presence of cancer and the circulation of EVs, but detailed knowledge on the role of EVs is still lacking due to inefficient methods in EV isolation. The current “gold standard” for EV isolation is ultracentrifugation. Ultracentrifugation produces low yield, contain damages cells, has poor reproducibility and low purity.

Microfluidic technologies are an attractive alternative for EV isolation due to their low-cost, low sample and rapid throughput. We propose a quick, low-sample microfluidic solution to EV isolation with efficiencies that rival the gold standard of ultracentrifugation. Using acoustic microstreaming and immunoaffinity capture methods, we report isolation of EVs for downstream analysis at high efficiencies and faster turnaround times, fewer steps and less equipment than UC.