Enumeration of Live, Circulating Tumor Cells Using SmartFlare™ Probes and an Amnis® Imaging Flow Cytometer

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are released into the bloodstream from primary and metastatic cancers and are potentially useful for early cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment. In this study, an Amnis ImageStream®X Mark II imaging flow cytometer was employed along with SmartFlare™ fluorescent RNA detection probes to collect imagery from large numbers of WBCs that were spiked with live SKBR-3 human breast cancer cells.