title: A rapid nested polymerase chain reaction method to detect circulating cancer cells in breast cancer patients using multiple marker genes.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to develop a simple and rapid method for the detection of circulating cancer cells using multiple tumor markers and to investigate the clinical significance of circulating cancer cells in breast cancer patients. A novel rapid nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, with high sensitivity and specificity, was evaluated, which was considered to be suitable for clinical application. The rapid nested PCR method was used to detect the circulating cancer cells of 142 breast cancer patients, using a panel of marker genes (FAM83A, NPY1R and KRT19), which were identified by the Digital Gene Expression Displayer Tool of the National Cancer Institute-Cancer Genome Anatomy Project. In total, 79.6% of the 142 breast cancer patient blood samples were found to express at least one tumor marker. In addition, the number of positive markers was found to significantly correlate with the disease stage and presence of distant metastasis. Furthermore, positivity for more than one tumor marker appeared to predict a reduced survival time in breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Skills Center, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chunhu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Luyang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yaxian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Basic Medical Institute, Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hongru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
keywords: breast cancer; circulating cancer cells; nested polymerase chain reaction; tumor marker