Circulating tumour cells as a biomarker for diagnosis and staging in pancreatic cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Current diagnosis and staging of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has important limitations and better biomarkers are needed to guide initial therapy. We investigated the performance of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) as an adjunctive biomarker at the time of disease presentation.

Methods

Venous blood (VB) was collected prospectively from 100 consecutive, pre-treatment patients with PDAC. Utilising the microfluidic NanoVelcro CTC chip, samples were evaluated for the presence and number of CTCs. KRAS mutation analysis was used to compare the CTCs with primary tumour tissue. CTC enumeration data was then evaluated as a diagnostic and staging biomarker in the setting of PDAC.

Results

We found 100% concordance for KRAS mutation subtype between primary tu

SUBMITTER: Ankeny JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4984454 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature