Question

design a bioreactor to isolate and culture circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from human blood in an in-vitro condition.

ie describe what the reactor would look like and fucntion. My idea was like the bloodstream since ctcs grow so well in the bloodstream, but i am not sure if this is right

Answer 1

A method of generating metastatic tumor cells in vitro comprising:

(a) introducing one or more tumor cells into a bioreactor;

(b) providing to the bioreactor fluid culture media and gas composition supportive of growth of the tumor cells;

(c) incubating the bioreactor under conditions and for a time sufficient for the tumor cells to produce metastatic cells;

(d) collecting metastatic tumor cells

   A combination of a bioreactor and one or more tumor cells in which the system parameters are such that the tumor cells maintain their normal metastatic potential.

The invention further provides mechanism for inducing tumors to undergo metastatic processes resulting in production of tumor progenitor or stem cells that can be collected, characterized, or used to induce tumors in normal tissue constructs in vitro.