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circulating tumor cells in colorectal cancer
Thursday 12 April 2012
Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood is a rapidly developing research field with clear clinical implications for the staging and monitoring of cancer patients.
Current CTC assays, including the US Food and Drug Administration-cleared CellSearch® system, typically use markers [e.g., cytokeratins (CKs), the transmembrane protein EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule)] that are expressed on normal and malignant epithelial cells but not on the surrounding normal leukocytes.
References
Circulating Epithelial Cells in Patients with Benign Colon Diseases. Pantel K, Denève E, Nocca D, Coffy A, Vendrell JP, Maudelonde T, Riethdorf S, Alix-Panabières C. Clin Chem. 2011 Dec 28. PMID: #22205690#
