Real-Time PCR Analysis of Peripheral Blood: A Non-Invasive Technology That Can Be Used to Assess Tumor Burden in Breast Cancer Patients

摘要

The molecular detection of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in breast cancer patients has been limited by two factors: (1) low concentration of CTC in peripheral blood, and (2) normal lymphocytes express some cancer-associated genes at detectable levels. In this study, we investigated the ability of a novel buoyant density gradient centrifugation (BDGC) medium (Oncoouick, HEXAL Gentech) to enrich CTC prior to real-time RT-PCR analysis.