TARGET CELL CAPTURE FILTER AND TARGET CELL CAPTURE METHOD

Abstract

[Object] A target cell capture filter is provided, having an improved capture ratio per unit area, structured as a filter for extracting and capturing target cells contained in a biological sample such as blood or the like in a simple manner, in a short period of time, and with high efficiency.

[Solving Means] A target cell capture filter is structured to have a capture face for capturing target cells in a liquid. The target cell capture filter has multiple notches that allows a part of the capture face to be elastically deformed in a direction that is orthogonal to the capture face, thereby providing gaps. At least part of the plurality of notches are a first notch group including multiple notches designed such that there is a difference between the notches in a shortest distance from a greatest deformation location of the notch to an outer edge of the capture face, and such that the same elastic deformation amount is exhibited with respect to the impulse per unit area.

Claims

1. A target cell capture filter that has a capture face for capturing target cells in a liquid, the target cell capture filter comprising a plurality of notches that allows a part of the capture face to be elastically deformed in a direction that is orthogonal to the capture face, thereby providing gaps, wherein at least part of the plurality of notches are a first notch group comprising a plurality of notches designed such that there is a difference between the notches in a shortest distance from a greatest deformation location of the notch to an outer edge of the capture face, and such that the same elastic deformation amount is exhibited with respect to the impulse per unit area.

2. The target cell capture filter according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group each form part of a circle.

3-5. (canceled)

6. The target cell capture filter according to claim 2, wherein the circles comprise at least a first circle, a second circle, and a third circle respectively having a first radius, a second radius, and a third radius that become larger in this order, and wherein a difference in length between the second radius and the first radius is greater than a difference in length between the third radius and the second radius.

7. A target cell capture method using a target cell capture filter that has a capture face for capturing target cells in a liquid, wherein the target cell capture filter includes a plurality of notches that allows a part of the capture face to be elastically deformed in a direction that is orthogonal to the capture face, thereby providing gaps, wherein at least part of the plurality of notches are a first notch group comprising a plurality of notches designed such that there is a difference between the notches in a shortest distance from a greatest deformation location of the notch to an outer edge of the target cell capture filter, and such that the same elastic deformation amount is exhibited with respect to the impulse per unit area, and wherein the target cell capture method comprises target cell capturing in which the target cell capture filter captures the target cells in the liquid.

8. The target cell capture filter according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group are arranged so as to form a figure pattern, and are formed in a nested manner, wherein the target cell capture filter comprises a plurality of the figure patterns each formed in a nested manner, and wherein the figure patterns are each arranged in a linearly symmetrical manner with respect to a straight line that connects a center of the filter and a center of one from among the figure patterns.

9. The target cell capture filter according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group are arranged so as to form a figure pattern, and are formed in a nested manner, wherein the target cell capture filter comprises a plurality of the figure patterns each formed in a nested manner, and wherein the figure patterns are each arranged in a linearly symmetrical manner with respect to a straight line that connects a center of the filter and a center of one from among the figure patterns.

10. The target cell capture filter according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group are arranged so as to form a figure pattern, and are formed in a nested manner, and wherein the figure patterns thus arranged in a nested manner are arranged with a higher density closer to an outer side from an inner side.

11. The target cell capture filter according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group are arranged so as to form a figure pattern, and are formed in a nested manner, and wherein the figure patterns thus arranged in a nested manner are arranged with a higher density closer to an outer side from an inner side.

12. The target cell capture filter according to any one of claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 wherein the plurality of notches belonging to the first notch group each have the same length.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0023] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing examples of notches in a target cell capture filter.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a graph showing the measurement results of the target cell capture density according to difference in notches of filters.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0025] Description will be made below with reference to the drawings regarding examples of the present invention. It should be noted that the invention according to the present application is not restricted to the examples described below.

EXAMPLES

[0026] The present invention relates to a three-dimensional filter structured to classify a target material mainly contained in a liquid in a size-selective and affinity-specific manner and a target cell capture method using the three-dimensional filter, and particularly to a three-dimensional filter, etc., structured to effectively capture target cells contained in a liquid.

[0027] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing target cell capture filter 1 and target cell capture filter 21 according to the present example. The target cell capture filter 1 and target cell capture filter 21 are each structured in a sheet shape before they are used. Furthermore, the target cell capture filter 1 and target cell capture filter 21 are each structured as an example of the “target cell capture filter” according to the appended claims.

[0028] The target cell capture filter 1 shown in FIG. 1A (which will be referred to as a “compound 3D filter 1” hereafter) includes multiple different sets of concentric-circle-shaped (an example of “figure pattern” or “concentric circle” in the appended claims) notches 3 (an example of the “notches” in the appended claims) in a single face (an example of the “capture face” in the appended claims). On the other hand, the target cell capture filter 21 shown in FIG. 1B (which will be referred to as an “equally spaced filter 21” hereafter) has a single set of concentric-circle-shaped (an example of “figure pattern” or “concentric circle” in the appended claims) notches 3. With such an arrangement including the notches 3, this allows a part of the face to be elastically deformed in a direction that is orthogonal to the face itself, thereby providing a gap. With such an arrangement, the interval between the concentric notches becomes narrower closer to the outer side from the center thereof, such that the concentric gaps are positioned at regular intervals when the target cell capture filter 21 is elastically deformed under fluid force.

[0029] FIG. 2 is a graph showing results of measurement of capture density of target cells according to differences in notches of the target cell capture filters. Description will be made regarding the measurement. The measurement is made assuming that target cells are modified by nucleic acid aptamers beforehand, and biotin-avidin binding is used for binding to the filter. Specifically, nucleic acid aptamers terminally modified with biotin are introduced into a sample solution containing target cells, thereby binding the target cells and the nucleic acid aptamers. The filter is modified by avidin. Subsequently, the sample solution is introduced to the filter so as to capture the target cells by biotin-avidin binding. As shown in FIG. 2, in comparison of the equally spaced filter 21 according to the present example with a conventional filter 51, the equally spaced filter 21 has a target cell capture density improved by three times or more. Furthermore, it can be seen that the compound 3D filter 1 has a target cell capture density improved by approximately 20 times as compared with the conventional filter 51.

[0030] The target cell capture filters 1 and 21 have multiple notches 3 structured such that they are elastically deformed and form gaps, and at least part of the multiple notches 3 have the following features.

[0031] (1) The number of such notches is plural.

[0032] (2) There is a difference between the multiple notches in the shortest distance from the greatest deformation location of each notch to the outer edge 5 of the target cell capture filter. The multiple notches that have such features will be referred to as the “first notch group” (an example of the “first notch group” in the appended claims) hereafter.

[0033] Furthermore, the first notch group also has a feature as follows. That is to say, the first notch group exhibits an equal elastic deformation amount with respect to the impulse per unit area regardless of whether the notch is positioned in a center portion 7 that is a region including the center of the filter or in an outer edge portion 9 that is a region adjacent to the outer edge of the filter.

[0034] Here, the amount of deformation is represented by the area of a gap, and can be approximately represented by the product of the length of the gap and the distance of deformation.

[0035] Furthermore, in the target cell capture filter 21, the notches 3 are designed to have the same length. Accordingly, the filter is formed with an increased rigidity as compared with the conventional filter 51 in which the length of the concentric-circle-shaped notch becomes longer closer to the outer side. With this, clogging readily occurs in the filter before deformation into a three-dimensional shape. This allows the target cell capture filter 21 to easily retain a capture target object. It is conceivable that this point also contributed to the improved capture ratio of target cells.

[0036] In contrast, in the target cell capture filter 1, the circular-shaped notch is designed to have a length that is shorter as the size of the circular-shaped notch is smaller.

[0037] The cell capture filter according to the present example exhibits approximately the same level of elastic deformation at the center portion and the outer edge portion. This allows liquid to easily pass through uniformly over the entire face of the filter. Accordingly, the amount of the capture target object that comes in contact with the filter per unit area is approximately the same level regardless of whether it comes in contact with a central portion or an outer edge portion. This enables marked improvement in the capture ratio of the capture target object as compared to conventional filters.

[0038] It should be noted that description has been made in the present example regarding the target cell capture filter having a sheet shape. Also, the target cell capture filter may have a shape other than a sheet shape as long as it has a shape that has a capture face. For example, the target cell capture filter may have a thin-film shape. Also, the capture face is not restricted to being a flat face, and may be a curved face.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0039] Target cell capture filter 1, Notch 3, Outer edge 5, Center portion 7, Outer edge portion 9, Target cell capture filter 21.