Abstract: Circulating tumor cells (CTC) harvested from peripheral blood have received significant interest as sources for serial sampling to gauge treatment efficacy. Nanotechnology and microfluidic based approaches are emerging to facilitate such analyses. While of considerable clinical importance, there is little information on how similar or… Abstract: Circulating tumor cells (CTC) harvested from peripheral blood have received significant interest as sources for serial sampling to gauge treatment efficacy. Nanotechnology and microfluidic based approaches are emerging to facilitate such analyses. While of considerable clinical importance, there is little information on how similar or different CTCs are from their shedding bulk tumors. In this clinical study, paired tumor fine needle aspirate and peripheral blood samples were obtained from cancer patients during image-guided biopsy. Using targeted magnetic nanoparticles and a point-of-care micro-NMR system, we compared selected biomarkers (EpCAM, EGFR, HER-2 and vimentin) in both CTC and fine needle biopsies of solid epithelial cancers. We show a weak correlation between each paired sample, suggesting that use of CTC as “liquid biopsies” and proxies to metastatic solid lesions could be misleading.Graphical abstract: Targeted magnetic nanoparticles and a point-of-care micro-NMR system are used to rapidly profile molecular biomarkers of cancer. In this clinical study, cancer biomarkers of EGFR, Her-2, EpCAM and vimentin were characterized in both circulating tumor cells (CTC) and paired tumor fine needle aspirate of the same patient. The profiles of the CTC and metastatic solid lesions were shown to be dissimilar in a given patient. This finding has implications in using CTC as liquid biopsies for diagnostic application.
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