Detection and characterisation of circulating tumor cells in patients with castration resistant prostate cancer
Abstract
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are one of the potential prognostic and predictive markers of the metastatic process. From the peripheral blood of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), we isolated CTCs before and after chemotherapy treatment by using immunomagnetic separation kit AdnaTest (AdnaGen ®).
Using PCR methods, we determined the presence of CTC and the expression of tumor-associated genes (PSA, PSMA, EGFR). For positive samples, we cultivated obtained cells.
Our initial results suggest that patients with CRPC have relatively high levels of CTC before therapy. This corresponds to the presence of metastasis in this type of cancer.
CTCs of each patient differ in the expression of tumor-associated genes. Cultivation of CTCs is difficult due to their small number in the samples.