Emerging microfluidic devices for cancer cells/biomarkers manipulation and detection

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are active participants in the metastasis process and account for ∼90% of all cancer deaths. As CTCs are admixed with a very large amount of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets in blood, CTCs are very rare, making their isolation, capture, and detection a major technological challenge. Microfluidic technologies have opened‐up new opportunities for the screening of blood samples and the detection of CTCs or other important cancer biomarker‐proteins. In this study, the authors have reviewed the most recent developments in microfluidic devices for cells/biomarkers manipulation and detection, focusing their attention on immunomagnetic‐affinity‐based devices, dielectrophoresis‐based devices, surface‐plasmon‐resonance microfluidic sensors, and quantum‐dots‐based sensors.