Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2010 Jan 19;102(2):276-84.
doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6605472. Epub 2009 Dec 1.

Circulating tumour cell detection: a direct comparison between the CellSearch System, the AdnaTest and CK-19/mammaglobin RT-PCR in patients with metastatic breast cancer

I Van der Auwera  1 , D Peeters, I H Benoy, H J Elst, S J Van Laere, A Prové, H Maes, P Huget, P van Dam, P B Vermeulen, L Y Dirix
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Circulating tumour cell detection: a direct comparison between the CellSearch System, the AdnaTest and CK-19/mammaglobin RT-PCR in patients with metastatic breast cancer

I Van der Auwera et al. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: The detection, enumeration and isolation of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) have considerable potential to influence the clinical management of patients with breast cancer. There is, however, substantial variability in the rates of positive samples using existing detection techniques. The lack of standardisation of technology hampers the implementation of CTC measurement in clinical routine practice.

Methods: This study was designed to directly compare three techniques for detecting CTCs in blood samples taken from 76 patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and from 20 healthy controls: the CellSearch CTC System, the AdnaTest Breast Cancer Select/Detect and a previously developed real-time qRT-PCR assay for the detection of CK-19 and mammaglobin transcripts.

Results: As a result, 36% of patients with MBC were positive by the CellSearch System, 22% by the AdnaTest, 26% using RT-PCR for CK-19 and 54% using RT-PCR for mammaglobin. Samples were significantly more likely to be positive for at least one mRNA marker using RT-PCR than using the CellSearch System (P=0.001) or the AdnaTest (P<0.001).

Conclusion: We observed a substantial variation in the detection rates of CTCs in blood from breast cancer patients using three different techniques. A higher rate of positive samples was observed using a combined qRT-PCR approach for CK-19 and mammaglobin, which suggests that this is currently the most sensitive technique for detecting CTCs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Number of CTCs detected in 7.5 ml of blood taken from healthy controls (N=20) and metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients (N=76) when samples were analysed with the CellSearch CTC test. (B) Normalised relative gene expression levels of CK-19 detected in blood from MBC patients (N=76) when samples were analysed using a real-time RT-PCR assay. (C) Normalised relative gene expression levels of mammaglobin detected in blood from MBC patients (N=76) when samples were analysed using a real-time RT-PCR assay. Treated: patients with MBC during treatment. Untreated: patients with MBC receiving no treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation between the number of circulating tumour cells by the CellSearch System and the normalised relative gene expression levels of CK-19 (A) or mammaglobin (B) by RT–PCR in MBC patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aerts J, Wynendaele W, Paridaens R, Christiaens MR, van den BW, van Oosterom AT, Vandekerckhove F (2001) A real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) to detect breast carcinoma cells in peripheral blood. Ann Oncol 12: 39–46 - PubMed
    1. Aktas B, Tewes M, Fehm T, Hauch S, Kimmig R, Kasimir-Bauer S (2009) Stem cell and epithelial–mesenchymal transition markers are frequently overexpressed in circulating tumor cells of metastatic breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res 11: R46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allan AL, Vantyghem SA, Tuck AB, Chambers AF, Chin-Yee IH, Keeney M (2005) Detection and quantification of circulating tumor cells in mouse models of human breast cancer using immunomagnetic enrichment and multiparameter flow cytometry. Cytometry A 65: 4–14 - PubMed
    1. Allard WJ, Matera J, Miller MC, Repollet M, Connelly MC, Rao C, Tibbe AG, Uhr JW, Terstappen LW (2004) Tumor cells circulate in the peripheral blood of all major carcinomas but not in healthy subjects or patients with nonmalignant diseases. Clin Cancer Res 10: 6897–6904 - PubMed
    1. Balic M, Dandachi N, Hofmann G, Samonigg H, Loibner H, Obwaller A, van der KA, Tibbe AG, Doyle GV, Terstappen LW, Bauernhofer T (2005) Comparison of two methods for enumerating circulating tumor cells in carcinoma patients. Cytometry B Clin Cytom 68: 25–30 - PubMed

Publication types

Substances