title: Detection of circulating tumor cells in bladder cancer patients.
abstract: The methods employed for the detection of circulating bladder cancer cells (CBCs) and their use as a molecular staging tool in clinical settings are thoroughly reviewed. CBC isolation and enrichment methods are discussed according to their advantages and pitfalls along with the clinical data of PCR-based techniques used for CBC detection. In addition, we review the specificity of molecular markers that have been proposed so far for CBC identification, and we comment on the controversial clinical data, proposing laboratory approaches which may improve the clinical significance of CBC detection in bladder cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Physiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 Mikras Asias, Goudi 115 27, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Adrianos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nezos
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pissimisis
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lembessis
authors.forename: Antigone
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sourla
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dimopoulos
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dimopoulos
authors.forename: Kostantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tzelepis
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koutsilieris
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D002469:Cell Separation; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm