Tissue factor as a novel marker for detection of circulating cancer cells

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.

Key words::

• Biomarker
• tissue factor
• RT-PCR
• nested PCR
• breast cancer

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.