Patent ID: 7785810

Claim:
A method for determining the metastatic potential of cells derived from a subject comprising: (a) isolating cancer cells from a blood fluid of the subject, said fluid selected from the group consisting of whole blood, lymph, bone marrow, ascites or a combination thereof, said fluid containing a mixed population of cancer and non-cancer cells; said isolating step comprising contacting said fluid with a cell adhesion matrix for a time sufficient to allow the cancer cells in the fluid to selectively adhere to the matrix, said matrix comprising a fibrous scaffold comprising type I collagen fibers, type III collagen fibers, fibrin, cotton fibers, tissue fragment, or plastic fibers; wherein said matrix is coated with adhesion molecules, and wherein said isolating step has a level of sensitivity of one viable cancer cell per ml of blood fluid; (b) incubating the isolated cancer cells for a time sufficient to allow ingestion of the matrix by the cells to occur; (c) detecting the ingestion of the matrix by the isolated cancer cells wherein a detection of cell ingestion of the matrix is an indicator of cells with metastatic potential.