Background Early diagnosis and monitoring of recurrence are particularly important for the prognosis of patients with gliomas.The use of inertial focusing microfluidics-based circulating tumor cell detection technology represents a promising and ideal diagnostic method.
Objective To explore the capture ability of inertial focusing microfluidic technology for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood of glioma patients and its application value in auxiliary diagnosis of glioma.
Methods A total of 21 glioma patients who visited our hospital from December 2022 to October 2023 were selected as the case group. Before clinical intervention, 4 ml of peripheral blood was collected from each patient, along with gathering their clinical information. Additionally, 25 healthy individuals were chosen as the control group, and 4 ml of peripheral blood was collected from them. Each blood sample underwent CTCs detection using an inertial focusing microfluidic chip technology platform. The detection data and clinical conditions were analyzed.
Results Of the 21 glioma patients, there were 9 males and 12 females, with an average age of (43.48 ± 14.27) years. The control group consisted of 12 males and 13 females with an average age of (44.76 ± 11.38) years. The total number of detected CTCs (MIQR: 7 3-19 vs 0 0-1, P＜0.001), as well as the number of hybrid CTCs (MIQR: 2 0-16 vs 0 0-0, P＜0.001) and mesenchymal CTCs (MIQR: 0 0-5 vs 0 0-0, P=0.001), in the case group were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group. ROC curve analysis revealed that the areas under the curve (AUC) for the total number of detected CTCs, hybrid CTCs, and mesenchymal CTCs were 0.987, 0.810, and 0.702, respectively. Using a median count of 11 as the threshold for detected CTCs in the case group, the subjects were divided into high and low CTC count groups for comparison, showing no statistically significant differences in blood cell results, inflammatory indicators, or WHO grading between the two groups (P＞0.05).
Conclusion Inertial focusing microfluidic technology has excellent capture capabilities for CTCs in the peripheral blood of glioma patients. When combined with immunohistochemistry staining, it enhances the accuracy of detection results, which shows high potential in auxiliary diagnosis of glioma.
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