Microfluidic chip detects lung cancer cells in 30 minutes

In order to shorten the time and increase the efficiency of diagnosing lung cancer cells, a microfluidic chip was fabricated and designed by the research team of University of Technology, National University of Hanoi after 4 years of research. The chip requires only a few blood samples and the reagents can detect lung cancer cells with a short processing time.

In current screening techniques, doctors usually take the patient's blood, use specific antibodies to look for the presence of cyclic cancer cells (a rare population of cancer cells, which are captured. source from primary tumor or metastatic tumor). However, this method only works if cancer cells appear in large numbers, difficult to find if in small numbers.

"Developing a rapid detection device for recirculating cancer cells is an important task to treat cancers in the country. This device must have a full range of functions from screening, cell enrichment to trapping and capture target cells, perform cell concentration measurements, convert to electronic information for processing in controllers ", GS. Dr. Chu Duc Trinh, team leader, said.

The chip is designed and developed by the team based on microfluidic technology, transferred from Taiwan. The device has a system of microfluidic channels with a size of several tens of micrometres, allowing multiple processes to be integrated on one platform, reducing sample time and volume. Therefore, cells in channels need only a smaller volume than microliter, but the cell concentrations during the experiment can still be kept high without dilution. Detecting and meeting sensitivity and precision requirements is made easier.

Microfluidic chip device is completed on a laboratory scale, detecting cancer cells with 100% accuracy. 
Photo: Research team.

In the first phase of the fabrication process, Prof. Trinh and his colleagues focused on developing the operation of the liquid-chamber structure in the chip set, then tested the system for the liquid-channel structure to count the cells in the continuous flow. To make micro-liquid microchips, he shared, every step is important because the process of making the device at the micrometer level, any small change in the process greatly affects the chip results.

The team's chip set is about the size of a regular USB. The chip start-up and commissioning begins with injecting a small amount of a test blood sample into the channels leading to a reaction chamber 500 micrometres in diameter (5 times the size of a hair). The reaction chamber contains specific biological products, which have the function of pairing with lung cancer cells. The impedance sensors of the reaction chamber are responsible for measuring the number of paired bonds, thereby determining the number of cancer cells.

After discovering the cancer cell, the team used dielectric electrophoresis to detect the cell's appearance and determine its concentration. This method can detect cancer cells with concentrations greater than 10 ³ cells / ml, response time is 60 seconds. This chip set can be used only once to avoid the risk of cross-contamination and the risk of handling biohazardous samples.

Currently, the diagnosis of cancer is based on clinical examination by popular methods such as hematology testing, using markers to screen, imaging resonance, biopsy tests to detect tumors.

"These methods also help determine the type of cancer, but the total time to identify takes hours, while the microfluidic chip has the full functionality from screening to capturing cancer cells in just 30 minutes," with small number of samples, "he said, adding that in addition to the advantages of time, the integration of microfluidic technology with physical methods helps to reduce the size, minimizing the chemicals needed for the internal devices. pretreatment processes (such as cell lysis or cell dye on a microfluidic chip).

The micro-liquid bio-chip prototype and the measuring system were tested and operated by the team, showing 100% accuracy in detecting lung cancer cells in the sample. high.

Research is a science and technology task under the Protocol supported by the Office of the National Science and Technology Program and the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Science and Technology). from 2016.

Currently, the system of equipment and a set of biological chips are registered to protect intellectual property rights. Prof. Trinh said, the research team is cooperating with Hospital E (Hanoi) to continue to improve products, test the system on real medical samples, to improve function and aesthetics.

Source: https://vnexpress.net/