Green Synthesized Liquid-likeDynamic Polymer Chains withDecreased Nonspecific Adhesivity forHigh-Purity Capture of CirculatingTumor Cells br

The capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is ofgreat significance in reducing cancer mortality andcomplications. However, the nonspecific binding ofproteins and white blood cells (WBCs) weakens thetargeting capabilities of the capture surfaces, whichcritically hampers the efficiency and purity of thecaptured CTCs. Herein, we propose a liquid-like in-terface design strategy that consists of liquid-likepolymer chains and anti-EpCAM modification pro-cesses for high-purity and high-efficiency capture ofCTCs. The dynamicflexible feature of the liquid-likechains endows the modified surfaces with excellentantiadhesion property for proteins and blood cells.The liquid-like surfaces can capture the target CTCsand show high cell viability due to the environment-friendly surface modification processes. Whenliquid-like surface designs were introduced in thedeterministic lateral displacement (DLD)-patternedmicrofluidic chip, the nonspecific adhesion rate of WBCs was reduced by more thanfivefold comparedto that in the DLD chip without liquid-like interfacedesign, while maintaining comparable capture effi-ciency. Overall, this strategy provides a novel per-spective on surface design for achieving high purityand efficient capture of CTCs.