Molecular Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in peripheral blood of colon cancer patients

Antonia Mourtzikou, Christos Κroupis, Nikoleta Poumpouridou, Spyridon Christodoulou, Maria Skondra, Anastasia N Kastania, Georgios Athanasas, Demetrios Pectasides, Kleanthi Dimas

Abstract


AIM: The aim of our pilot study was to evaluate the use of a commercial kit (AdnaTest) for the detection of circulating tumor cells of patients with colon cancer.

METHODS: After immunomagnetic enrichment and mRNA extraction, multiplex RT-PCR was performed in peripheral blood specimens from 50 patients and 40 healthy donors (control group) for beta-actin gene (as an internal control) and three tumor genes.

RESULTS: The internal PCR-control band of beta-actin was present in all samples. In the peripheral blood of four patients, aberrant expression of the CEA and GA 733-2 tumor genes was observed. Three of these patients were stage IV (Dukes D), with liver metastasis according to the histopathological examination. The other one was stage III (Dukes C) with no confirmed histopathological metastasis.

CONCLUSIONS: Further studies are needed to validate both technically and clinically the use of this kit in the peripheral blood of patients with colon cancer.

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