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Abstract
Metastases are the major cause of cancer-related deaths in patients with solid epithelial malignancies, such as breast, colorectal, and prostate carcinomas. Hematogenous spreading of tumor cells from a primary tumor can be considered as a crucial step in the metastasis cascade leading eventually to the formation of clinically manifest metastases. Consequently, as shown in recent studies, the detection of disseminated tumor cells in peripheral blood might be of clinical relevance with respect to individual patient prognosis and staging or monitoring of therapy. However, the rarity of disseminated tumor cells in peripheral blood renders the application of sensitive techniques mandatory for their detection. The emergence of highly sophisticated reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays, combining a preanalytical enrichment step with the assessment of multiple molecular tumor markers expressed in disseminated tumor cells, provides a powerful tool in detecting disseminated tumor cells with high sensitivity and specificity. This review will discuss currently used tumor markers as well as experimental means to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR assays to detect disseminated tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers, and their clinical relevance assessed in recent studies.
| ABBREVIATIONS: | ||
| CA15.3 | = | carcinoma antigen 15.3; |
| cDNA | = | complementary desoxyribonucleic acid; |
| CEA | = | carcinoembryonic antigen; |
| CK19 | = | cytokeratin 19; |
| CK20 | = | cytokeratin 20; |
| DNA | = | desoxyribonucleic acid; |
| EGFR | = | epidermal growth factor receptor; |
| EpCAM | = | epithelial cell adhesion molecule; |
| GA733-2 | = | gastrointestinal tumor associated antigen 733-2; |
| β-HCG | = | β-human chorionic gonadotropin; |
| h-MAM | = | human mammaglobulin; |
| ICC | = | immuncytochemistry; |
| IMS | = | immunomagnetic selection; |
| kb | = | kilobase; |
| Maspin | = | mammary serine protease inhibitor; |
| MNC | = | mononuclear cells; |
| MUC-1 | = | mucin-1; |
| mRNA | = | messenger ribonucleic acid; |
| PBMNCs | = | peripheral blood mononuclear cells; |
| PCR | = | polymerase chain reaction; |
| PSA | = | prostate-specific antigen; |
| qRT-PCR | = | quantitative RT-PCR; |
| RNA | = | ribonucleic acid; |
| RT-PCR | = | reversetranscriptase–polymerase chain reaction. |
| ABBREVIATIONS: | ||
| CA15.3 | = | carcinoma antigen 15.3; |
| cDNA | = | complementary desoxyribonucleic acid; |
| CEA | = | carcinoembryonic antigen; |
| CK19 | = | cytokeratin 19; |
| CK20 | = | cytokeratin 20; |
| DNA | = | desoxyribonucleic acid; |
| EGFR | = | epidermal growth factor receptor; |
| EpCAM | = | epithelial cell adhesion molecule; |
| GA733-2 | = | gastrointestinal tumor associated antigen 733-2; |
| β-HCG | = | β-human chorionic gonadotropin; |
| h-MAM | = | human mammaglobulin; |
| ICC | = | immuncytochemistry; |
| IMS | = | immunomagnetic selection; |
| kb | = | kilobase; |
| Maspin | = | mammary serine protease inhibitor; |
| MNC | = | mononuclear cells; |
| MUC-1 | = | mucin-1; |
| mRNA | = | messenger ribonucleic acid; |
| PBMNCs | = | peripheral blood mononuclear cells; |
| PCR | = | polymerase chain reaction; |
| PSA | = | prostate-specific antigen; |
| qRT-PCR | = | quantitative RT-PCR; |
| RNA | = | ribonucleic acid; |
| RT-PCR | = | reversetranscriptase–polymerase chain reaction. |