Circulating prostate tumor cells detected by RT-PCR in men with localized or castration-refractory prostate cancer: concordance with CellSearch assay and association with bone metastases and with survival

摘要

BACKGROUNDReverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays for detecting or analyzing expression profiles of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are currently of uncertain clinical value. We assessed men with localized prostate cancer or castration-refractory prostate cancer (CRPC) for CTCs by real-time RT-PCR for KLK3 (PSA) and KLK2 mRNAs. We also assessed the association of CTCs with disease characteristics and survival.