VIM and hepatocellular carcinoma: In this study, EpCAM/vimentin/GPC3 antibody-modified LMS were used to capture tumor cells with epithelial phenotype, mesenchymal phenotype and GPC3 phenotype, respectively, a clinically feasible CTC sorting scheme of LMS coupled with different antibodies (anti-EpCAM antibody, anti-vimentin antibody and anti-GPC3 antibody) was designed and constructed to monitor HCC progression for the first time (Additional file 1: Fig. S1).