Detection of circulating tumor cells(CTCs)plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and prognosis.1 Releasing captured tumor cells from sensor surface for subsequent molecular analysis or cell culture is a challenging step.2 Methods like thermodynamic release,electrochemical desorption and proteolytic enzyme degradation have been used to achieve this.However,all of these are invasive,have the potential to harm the completeness of cell structure and greatly disturb the cell microenvironment.In this study,we used 7-aminocoumarin as phototrigger to cage EpCAM-antibody to constitute photocontrolled CTCs release system.Owing to the auto-fluorescence free nature of photosensitive molecule luminescence imaging,as well as the magnetic separation to further reduce background signals,our proof-of-concept experiments demonstrated that the system can efficiently capture and release of CTCs.