Customer Publication
Circulating Tumor Cell Models Mimicking Metastasizing Cells In Vitro: Discrimination of Colorectal Cancer Cells and White Blood Cells Using Digital Holographic Cytometry
Journal: Photonics (2022)
Research Areas: Cancer research
Cell Lines: COLO 205, Caco-2, NCI-H508, LS411N, and SNU-C1 (colon cancer cell line)
Summary: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most metastatic disease, with most cases detected in Western countries. Metastases are formed by circulating altered phenotype tumor cells, causing 20% of CRC-related deaths. The authors used digital holographic cytometry (DHC) HoloMonitor to determine the cellular morphological properties of three metastatic and two non-metastatic colorectal cancer cell lines to show differences in morphology between the CRC cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). By establishing differences in the cell area, cell thickness, cell volume, and cell irregularity even when the CRC cells were in the minority (5% out of PBMCs), DHC does discriminate between CRC cells and the PBMCs in vitro. The authors present DHC as a new powerful tool for discriminating cells of different sizes in suspension and combining biomarkers.