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Abstract
Tissue factor (TF) is a molecular marker that is up-regulated in cancer cells and aids tumoral dissemination. Our purpose was to develop a nested RT-PCR strategy against TF for detecting blood-borne tumour cells. Our method detected TF expression in a minimum of 1.5 pg total RNA from MCF7 cells. A preliminary study in blood samples from 16 advanced breast carcinoma patients showed that 80% of patients with high TF load progressed and died, while only 18% with low TF load showed the same behaviour. Kaplan-Meier analysis confirmed worse overall survival in patients with high TF load.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Marcelo Guthmann for patient data mining. M.R. Gabri, D.E. Gomez and D.F. Alonso are members and L.L. Otero is a fellow of CONICET. This work was supported by Quilmes National University, Elea Laboratories and a grant from ANPCYT (Argentina).
Declaration of interest
The authors report no declarations of interest.