Context

In addition to the need to be able to work on isolated and living circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in biological research, a strong clinical need has also been identified. Clinical practitioners and patients are waiting for a technique to be developed, hopefully a standard technique that would become a reference in the field, which would enable a nearly non-invasive fluid biopsy to be used to: 1) diagnose and monitor cancer, 2) evaluate the disease’s progression (diagnosis of early relapse, earlier than today’s existing imaging technologies, and 3) predict the efficacy of therapeutic molecules and the patient’s response to treatment.

Benefits

This new technique uses micro-fluid droplets to detect, separate, analyze, and characterize functional CTCs. More accurate and more reliable, this detection technique will overcome the known limits of other existing systems to evaluate functional CTCs in patients with solid cancer.

Applications

This technology will have many applications in clinical research, notably offering a considerable benefit for cancer patients: • In biology, this mechanism will help improve knowledge about CTCs by evaluating and analyzing different cell sub-populations, identifying new biomarkers, and more. • In clinical applications, this mechanism will provide accurate diagnosis/prognostics, track growth and progression of the disease, and define/predict therapeutic efficacy and the patient’s response to treatment.