Detection and counting of HT-29 cancer cells in micro channels for metastasis follow-up

In many cases metastases is the reason of death not tumors itself. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer before primary tumor spreads out chance of survival of patient increases. It is not clear when and how the metastasis starts, which factors trigger it. However it is known that tumor cells spread through adenoids and as a result they enter into blood circulation. These tumor cells are called circulating tumor cells (CTC). The only available blood test for CTC in the market is used for cell count but since the CTC's are rare there is not enough cells for Doctor's to analyze and to choose appropriate treatment method. In this thesis work a system that can detect a few CTC's among billions of healty cell is designed. Amicrochip is used in this test that can be considered as a kind of fluid biopsy. Surface of microchip is coated with antibodies, which bind to tumor cells. HT-29 cell line is used and cell are spiked in blood in order to simulate CTC in blood. When blood interacts with the microchip surface cancerous cells with in the blood are withheld so both cancerous blood cells and their count can be determined. In the test results it showed that applying 1.5 minutes of oxygen plasma treatment has the maximum cell capture efficiency with the value of 66%±8. For HT-29 cells spiked in blood at 5,10,25,50,100,500, cells in uL concentrations the CTC capture efficiency was determined as 65% overall. Detection and counting of CTC's before causing metastases can be useful; in follow ups, developing personel treatment protocols and developing new medicine targeting metastatic tumors. By this there can be alternative for destructive and costly traditional chemotherapy while prolonging the life of individuals and enhancing the life quality of society.