Methods and devices for isolating and diagnosing
disease with a
cell adhesion matrix
system, mimicking a metastatic, cardiovascular or placental environment, are disclosed. The
cell adhesion matrix facilitates the enrichment of target cells such as
metastatic tumor cells, fetal cells and endothelial
progenitor cells from a fluid sample such as blood for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in treating patients afflicted with
disease, such as cancerous, cardiovascular and fetal diseases, as well as for research applications in
molecular analysis of metastatic, and cardiovascular and fetal diseases.
Blood test prototypes and methods for the
cell enrichment and detection of circulating tumor and endothelial cells using
multiplex molecular analysis are described herein. In addition, methods and compositions for determining
host immunity to tumor in subjects with risk of
cancer progression and methods for isolating an enriched fraction of fetal cells from pregnant females for
prenatal diagnosis are also described herein.