A multimarker QPCR-based platform for the detection of circulating tumour cells in patients with early-stage breast cancer

Abstract

Background:The detection of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) has been linked with poor prognosis in advanced breast cancer. Relatively few studies have been undertaken to study the clinical relevance of CTCs in early-stage breast cancer.Methods:In a prospective study, we evaluated CTCs in the peripheral blood of 82 early-stage breast cancer patients. Control groups consisted of 16 advanced breast cancer patients and 45 healthy volunteers. The CTC detection was performed using ErbB2/EpCAM immunomagnetic tumour cell enrichment followed by multimarker quantitative PCR (QPCR). The CTC status and common clinicopathological factors were correlated to relapse-free, breast cancer-related and overall survival.Results:Circulating tumour cells were detected in 16 of 82 (20%) patients with early-stage breast cancer and in 13 out of 16 (81%) with advanced breast cancer. The specificity was 100%. The median follow-up time was 51 months (range: 17–60). The CTC positivity in early-stage breast cancer patients resulted in significantly poorer relapse-free survival (log rank test: P=0.003) and was an independent predictor of relapse-free survival (multivariate hazard ratio=5.13, P=0.006, 95% CI: 1.62–16.31).Conclusion:The detection of CTCs in peripheral blood of early-stage breast cancer patients provided prognostic information for relapse-free survival.

Clinical Significance of EpCAM mRNA-Positive Circulating Tumor Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma by an Optimized Negative Enrichment and qRT-PCR–Based Platform

“…Compared with the CellSearch system, CTC detection by qRT-PCR provides accurate and quantitative information on gene expression and has the advantage of improved sensitivity, versatility, and cost-effectiveness (16)(17)(18). More importantly, molecular characterization of CTC by qRT-PCR analysis may offer new perspectives regarding the clarification of molecular mechanism of metastasis, analysis of the association of CTC molecular profiles with treatment outcomes, and identification of potential therapeutic targets (19)(20)(21)(22)(23).…”

Real-Time qPCR-Based Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells from Blood Samples of Adjuvant Breast Cancer Patients: A Preliminary Study

“…RT-qPCR seems to be a promising method for CTC detection in blood samples [5,6,7,13,14,15] of patients suffering from different types of cancer, such as breast cancer, for example. But still a lot of work needs to be done.…”

“…It is well known that CTCs are cells that dissociate from a primary tumor, move into the circulation through invasion of blood or lymphatic vessels, settle down at secondary sites in the body and can there become the origin of metastasis formation [1,2,3,4]. A number of clinical studies were published showing that the presence of CTCs in the blood of cancer patients is correlated with poor outcome of the disease [5,6,7] and a worse prognosis for overall survival in comparison to patients without CTCs [8,9,10]. In light of this, CTCs are already used as tumor markers [11].…”

Searching for metastases in ovarian tissue before autotransplantation: a tailor-made approach

“…Mammaglobin gene 1 (MGB1) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification assays were used for breast cancer as described by Molley et al with the use of cDNA of the tumor (17).…”