Aim
The aim of this study was to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC) in the peripheral blood of gastrointestinal cancer patients using conditionally reprogrammed cell (CRC) culture. Materials and
Conclusion
The CRC culture may potentially be used to evaluate the metastatic cancer cells in the circulation.
Methods
We confirmed the sensitivity of the CRC culture method. Five ml of blood were obtained from 81 cancer patients (56 colorectal and 25 gastric). The collected mononuclear cells were cultured for 4 weeks in the CRC condition. Finally, cultured cells were characterized by RT-PCR for the expression of hTERT and MAGE A1-6 mRNA.
Results
The CRC method had a CTC detection limit of 6 cells for gastric cancer cells. After culture of 81 blood specimens, 38 formed visible cells, including 5 colonies. Among the 38 cells, 13 were hTERT positive and 4 were MAGE A1-6 positive. The final CTC detection rate was 16.0%.