Methods for enriching breast tumor cells

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods of enriching breast tumor cells from a patient's body fluids. In particular, it relates to the use of a cell-trap centrifugation tube containing a specific density gradient solution adjusted to a specific density to enrich for breast tumor cells from a cell mixture. The tube allows the desired cell population to be collected by decantation after centrifugation to minimize cell loss and maximize efficiency. In addition, the method can be further simplified by density-adjusted cell sorting which uses cell type-specific binding agents such as antibodies and lectins linked to carrier particles to impart a different density to the non-tumor or tumor cell populations allowing the breast tumor cells to be separated from the non-tumor cells in a more convenient manner. The rapid breast tumor cell enrichment method described herein has a wide range of applications, including but not limited to, detection of tumor cells by molecular and immunochemical means, and purging of tumor cells from an autologous bone marrow cell preparation prior to re-infusion.