Oregon Health & Science University
The current investigation tool for tumors is surgical biopsy that are invasive, costly, and difficult to perform. An alternative investigation tool using circulating tumor cells that can be obtained from a blood draw offer the potential for obtaining genetic information serving as biomarkers. Blood was obtained from a patient, and enriched CTCs are stained before seeded on a CellRaft Array. Single cells that are positively stained for the melanocyte cocktail and Hoechst, and negative for CD45 are isolated and deposited into a PCR tube with lysis buffer for single-cell RNA sequencing. Transcriptional profiles of single melanoma CTCs against A375 cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were compared to identify unique genes differentially regulated in circulating melanoma tumor cells. Using these methods can provide significant potential in disease tracking.