Magnetic-Nanoparticle-Based Immunoassays-on-Chip: Materials Synthesis, Surface Functionalization, and Cancer Cell Screening

and dormant cancer cell, [ 12 ] are often rare in a mixture of heterogeneous cells (usually less than 1% of the total cell number). The low number of target cells in blood sample largely limits the detection capability and reduces effectiveness of the time-sensitive cancer treatment. Therefore, the isolation and detection of the rare cells for early diagnosis and prognosis of cancers have drawn increasing attention in recent years. Accurate enumeration of enriched cancer cells may provide insights for metastasis, tumor growth, and cancer development for risk assessment, response monitoring, and development of new therapies. [ 13–15 ]