TITLE:
Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Breast, Prostate, Pancreatic, Colon and Melanoma Cancer: A Blinded Comparative Study Using Healthy Donors
AUTHORS:
Ioannis Papasotiriou, Marina Chatziioannou, Konstantina Pessiou, Ippokratis Retsas, Georgia Dafouli, Antigoni Kyriazopoulou, Maria Toloudi, Irene Kaliara, Ioanna Vlachou, Eleni Kourtidou, Vasiliki Kipourou, Evanthia Georgiou, Dimitrios Athanasios Ntanovasilis, Christos Theodosiou, Aikaterini Pantopikou, Panagiotis Apostolou
KEYWORDS:
Circulating Tumor Cell, Cancer Detection, Diagnosis, Flow Cytometry
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
7,
2015
ABSTRACT: Cancer is a diverse disease characterized by abnormal cell growth and the
ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Because the yearly
cancer rate is increasing, an important area for cancer researchers is to
improve the ability to detect and treat cancer early. The current study
analyzes the potential of flow cytometry to be used to detect circulating tumor
cells (CTCs) in patients with various cancer types and stages. CTCs are cells
that have detached from the primary tumor and entered the blood stream in the
process of metastasizing to other organs. To determine the accuracy of flow
cytometry in detecting CTCs, a comparative study was performed on healthy
donors. In this study, blood samples from patients with breast, prostate,
pancreatic, colon and skin cancer were analyzed and compared with healthy
donors. The data were collected and analyzed statistically with receiver
operating characteristic curve analysis. The results indicate that CTCs can be
detected in over 83% of the cancer patients and therefore may be a promising
method for diagnosing cancer.