DTC-Flow: a flow cytometry-based detection platform for characterizing bone marrow disseminated tumor cells in breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: The presence of bone marrow (BM) disseminated tumor cells (DTC_bm) identifies early-stage breast cancer patients at increased risk of recurrence and poorer overall survival. However, limitations in detecting DTC_bm by standard immunohistochemical approaches have hampered clinical application. To address this gap, we developed a flow cytometry-based method, DTC-Flow, that enables the sensitive and efficient detection and molecular characterization of breast cancer DTC_bm. Our analysis identified HER2 as a sensitive marker for detecting breast cancer cells, including those lacking HER2 amplification are claudin-low. DTC-Flow using a HER2/EpCAM/CD45 marker panel enabled >90% cancer cell recovery and sensitivity of one cancer cell per million nucleated BM cells ac

SUBMITTER: Chislock EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12686464 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature