Capturing Rare Cells From Blood Using a Packed Bed of Custom-Synthesized Chitosan Microparticles

Published

July 1, 2013

Author(s)

Chandamany Arya, Jason Kralj, Kunqiang Jiang, Matt S. Munson, Thomas Forbes, Don L. DeVoe, Srinivasa R. Raghavan, Samuel Forry

Abstract

Uniform multifunctional chitosan microparticles were produced in large numbers using a simple and inexpensive microtubing arrangement. The particles were functionalized through both physical encapsulation of carbon black, to attenuate autofluorescence, and covalent attachment of streptavidin, to enable interactions with biotinylated antibodies. Control over chitosan microparticle properties allowed the synthesis of particles that exhibited favorable interactions with rare cells of interest. The utility of uniform functionalized chitosan microparticles was demonstrated by loading them into a microfluidic packed bed, where model circulating tumor cell (CTC) samples (cancer cells spiked into whole blood) were pumped through. Interestingly, large custom functionalized chitosan microparticles could be employed as a more convenient and cheaper alternative to previously used commercial microparticles. Selective capture of the rare cells at physiologically relevant levels was characterized and compared favorably with previous approaches. The low cost and simplicity of this method for forming and functionalizing chitosan microparticles will enable more researchers to study impactful applications of biopolymer based microparticles.

Citation

Small

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs), Rare cell capture, biopolymer, microbeads, microfluidic

Citation

Arya, C. , Kralj, J. , Jiang, K. , Munson, M. , Forbes, T. , DeVoe, D. , Raghavan, S. and Forry, S. (2013), Capturing Rare Cells From Blood Using a Packed Bed of Custom-Synthesized Chitosan Microparticles, Small (Accessed October 20, 2025)