An ultrasensitive tumor enriched flow-cytometric assay for detection of isolated tumor cells in bone marrow of patients with breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
An ultrasensitive tumor enriched flow-cytometric assay was used to determine its feasibility in detection of isolated tumor cells (ITC) in bone marrow (BM) of patients with breast cancer.


METHODS
Epithelial cells were removed by magnetic microbeads conjugated with an anti-cytokeratin 7/8 monoclonal antibody to enrich tumor cells in BM samples. A specific gate for MCF-7 breast cancer cells (gate(MCF-7 cells)) was also taken into consideration in addition to a gate including all enriched BM cells (gate(enriched BM cells)) in flow-cytometric analysis to enhance the specificity of the method.


RESULTS
Nineteen patients with stage I/II were evaluated. Ten patients (53%) were found to have cytokeratin positive (CK(+)) cells according to the gate(enriched BM cells) whereas 6 patients (32%) had CK(+) cells when the gate(MCF-7 cells) was taken into account.


CONCLUSIONS
New strategies in nonmorphological ultrasensitive techniques might be useful to categorize patients with ITCs having different tumor morphology and characteristics.
Cabioglu
Neslihan
N
Department of General Surgery, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey. neslicab@yahoo.com
Igci
Abdullah
A
Yildirim
Engin O
EO
Aktas
Esin
E
Bilgic
Sema
S
Yavuz
Ekrem
E
Muslumanoglu
Mahmut
M
Bozfakioglu
Yavuz
Y
Kecer
Mustafa
M
Ozmen
Vahit
V
Deniz
Gunnur
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D019046:Bone Marrow Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018189:Immunomagnetic Separation; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007633:Keratins