A Device for the Removal of Peripheral Blood Circulating Tumor Cells and Inhibiting Their Biodistribution

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) significantly impact the overall survival and progression-free survival of cancer patients. However, the current strategies for CTC separation and enrichment are limited as they analyze only small-volume blood samples, which is insufficient to comprehensively profile the distribution of CTCs in the blood and eliminate them. To address this issue, we developed a peripheral blood CTC removal device (PBCRD) inspired by hemoperfusion. It comprises systems for CTC-capturing and returning purified blood into circulation. The CTC capturing system consists of antibody-modified functional microspheres (AFMPs), while the purified blood returning system includes a peristaltic circulation pump for clinical blood perfusion and catheters. The PBCRD can efficiently capture, enrich, and remove CTCs from peripheral circulation in real-time, effectively inhibiting their biodistribution. The high biocompatibility of AFMPs ensures that PBCRD is safe and does not cause injuries. Overall, this work provides a new class of ideas for the effective capture and removal of CTCs from the peripheral circulation, which is expected to be an effective strategy to assist in the clinical treatment of tumors and inhibit metastasis.