Rapid isolation of cancer cells from tumor tissue by micromanuiplator and extraction of tiny amount of RNA.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a rapid method for isolating and purifying cancer cells from tumor tissue and for RNA extraction from tiny amount of the cells thus obtained. METHODS: Frozen sections of the tumor tissues were prepared followed by rapid staining. Clusters of the cancer cells were isolated from the sections by micromanipulation technique and purified for extracting intact RNA that was subsequently assayed. RESULTS: Clear vision was achieved by the staining of the sections. The cancer cell clusters were precisely isolated from which high-quality intact RNA was obtained as demonstrated by reverse transcriptase-PCR. CONCLUSION: Micromanuiplation can be effectively used in stead of laser capture microdissection to isolate and purify targeted cells from tiny amount of tissue samples, therefore making RNA extraction possible in this context.