Microfluidic device to avoid painful biopsy of patients with myeloma

Release date: 2017-08-14

Scientists from MIT designed a microfluidic device to capture and count plasma cells circulating in small samples of blood. This technique can only be performed by routine blood draw, which is expected to reduce the pain of patient myeloma testing.

Microfluidic devices designed by MIT scientists can separate plasma cells from the blood, rather than the usual bone marrow. The study was published in the Nature issue of Scientific Reports.

Perhaps many people think that this is not unusual, but for patients with multiple myeloma, bone marrow biopsy is a very painful thing. The ability to replace a bone marrow biopsy with a blood test will have important implications for the patient, not just reducing pain.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells. Plasma cells are produced in the bone marrow and produce antibodies to help fight infection. When plasma cells turn into cancer cells, they produce abnormal proteins that eventually infiltrate into the bloodstream after they are established in the bone marrow. A typical diagnosis of multiple myeloma is performed by bone marrow biopsy, which is inserted through a needle into the patient's hip bone to aspirate the bone marrow sample. Clinicians can determine whether they are cancer cells by isolating plasma cells in the bone marrow.

Scientists from MIT designed a microfluidic device to capture and count plasma cells circulating in small samples of blood. Microfluidic cell capture is designed based on the CD138 antigen, which has high expression on plasma cells and can be used to quantify rare circulating plasma cells (CPCs) in the blood, and subsequent fluorescence analysis. This technique can only be performed by routine blood draw, which is expected to reduce the pain of patient myeloma testing.

This microfluidic chip takes a clever fishbone hole and repeats a V-groove etch, much like a fishbone. Such a groove allows any fluid (blood sample) to create a vortex as it passes through the microchip, rather than passing directly. The cells in the fluid thus have a high chance of contact with the inner wall of the device. Inside the microfluidic device, the inner walls of the microchip are coated with specific molecules that recognize and attract the cells we want. The main design of the device came from the team of George Whitesides of Harvard University's Department of Chemistry.

Dr. Rohit Karnik

One of the co-authors of the article, Dr. Rohit Karnik from MIT and his team used microfluidic fish bone design to capture circulating plasma cells in the blood. They coated CD138 antibodies in the microchip channels. The team then passes a 1 ml blood sample through a microfluidic device, and the antibodies in the fishbone pores capture the plasma cells in the blood, allowing other blood components to pass through the device.

When the plasma cells are separated by a microfluidic device, the researchers count the cells and characterize the cells.

The cell capture rate shown in the model is approximately 40-70% and can be identified at a low level of CPCs < 1 in 1 ml of blood, which is difficult to achieve with existing techniques. <>

In bone marrow samples, data based on microfluidic plasma cell technology and flow cytometry analysis showed excellent correlation. The microfluidic design is designed to achieve high sensitivity and accuracy similar to precision instruments.

In peripheral blood samples, the device detected a baseline of 2-5 CD138+ cells per ml of healthy donor blood, which was significantly elevated in samples from multiple myeloma-relieving donors, 20-24 CD138+ cells, and this data is as high as 45-184 CD138+ cells in donor blood as indicated by multiple myeloma disease.

These results indicate that cell capture based on such microfluidic devices has a very large potential for alternative bone marrow biopsy and can be used not only to determine disease, but also to assess the effectiveness of a treatment regimen.

It is worth mentioning that the team pointed out that circulating plasma cells in patients with remission period showed higher counts than healthy donors. These patients are often shown to be normal indicators in routine blood tests. Karnik said the new device may get more subtle information about the patient's disease state, even during the remission period.

This is of great significance to patients undergoing chemotherapy.

“The process of traditional tissue biopsy is very painful, and there are complications such as potential infections, and often only in central hospitals, requiring patients to travel long distances,” said former MIT postdoctoral fellow Mohammad Qasaimeh. Capturing plasma cells from blood samples can be used as a liquid biopsy, which can be performed clinically as often as needed, and can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic test for therapeutic effects after chemotherapy. In addition, the cells to be captured can be used for drug testing. So it can be used as a personalized medical tool."

MIT's microfluidic devices offer precision and sensitivity comparable to professional instruments, and provide unique indications for treatment tracking and prognosis that are difficult to achieve with existing assays, while captured plasma cells can be used for drug development. And screening treatment options. In addition, this blood sample-based biopsy is not only expected to avoid the pain of bone marrow biopsy in patients with myeloma, but also to avoid infections and complications that may occur in bone marrow biopsy.

We look forward to this powerful new detection method that can be applied to the clinic as soon as possible to help more patients with myeloma improve the quality of life and treatment.

Reference material

[1]Method may help myelomapatients avoid painful biopsies

[2]Isolation of Circulating PlasmaCells in Multiple Myeloma Using CD138 Antibody-Based Capture in a MicrofluidicDevice

[3]Microfluidics Device Can DetectPlasma Cells in Blood, May Help Multiple Myeloma Patients Avoid Bone Biopsies

Source: Health New Vision (Micro Signal HealthHorizon)

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