Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22646670›Full record

ArticleBMC cancer2012

Detection of circulating tumor cells in blood of metastatic breast cancer patients using a combination of cytokeratin and EpCAM antibodies.

Ulrike Weissenstein, Agnes Schumann, Marcus Reif, Susanne Link, Ulrike D Toffol-Schmidt, Peter Heusser

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC cancer, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Prognostic value of circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer: a systemic review and meta-analysis.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2016
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Ulrike WeissensteinSociety for Cancer Research, Hiscia Institute, Arlesheim, Switzerland. u.weissenstein@vfk.ch
Agnes Schumann
Marcus Reif
Susanne Link
Ulrike D Toffol-Schmidt
Peter Heusser
Deleted InstitutionVerein für Krebsforschung · CHUniversity Hospital of Basel · CHWitten/Herdecke University · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) are detectable in peripheral blood of metastatic breast cancer patients (MBC). In this paper we evaluate a new CTC separation method based on a combination of anti-EpCAM- and anti-cytokeratin magnetic cell separation with the aim to improve CTC detection with low target antigen densities.

methodsBlood samples of healthy donors spiked with breast cancer cell line HCC1937 were used to determine accuracy and precision of the method. 10 healthy subjects were examined to evaluate specificity. CTC counts in 59 patients with MBC were measured to evaluate the prognostic value on overall survival.

resultsRegression analysis of numbers of recovered vs. spiked HCC1937 cells yielded a coefficient of determination of R(2) = 0.957. The average percentage of cell recovery was 84%. The average within-run coefficient of variation for spiking of 185, 85 and 30 cells was 14%. For spiking of 10 cells the within-run CV was 30%. No CTCs were detected in blood of 10 healthy subjects examined. A standard threshold of 5 CTC/7.5 ml blood as a cut-off point between risk groups led to a highly significant prognostic marker (p < 0.001). To assess the prognostic value of medium CTC levels we additionally considered a low (CTC-L: 0 CTC), a medium (CTC-M: 1-4 CTC) and a high risk group (CTC-H: ≥5 CTC). The effect of this CTC-LMH marker on overall survival was significant as well (p < 0.001). A log-ratio test performed to compare the model with 3 vs. the model with 2 risk groups rejected the model with 2 risk groups (p = 0.026). For CTC as a count variable, we propose an offset reciprocal transformation 1/(1 + x) for overall survival prediction (p < 0.001).

conclusionsWe show that our CTC detection method is feasible and leads to accurate and reliable results. Our data suggest that a refined differentiation between patients with different CTC levels is reasonable.

Indexed as

AntibodiesAgedAntigens, NeoplasmBiomarkers, TumorBreast NeoplasmsCell Adhesion MoleculesCell Line, TumorEpithelial Cell Adhesion MoleculeFemaleHumansKeratinsMiddle AgedNeoplasm MetastasisNeoplastic Cells, CirculatingPrognosisReproducibility of ResultsAntibodiesAntigens, NeoplasmBiomarkers, TumorCell Adhesion MoleculesEpithelial Cell Adhesion MoleculeKeratins

Identifiers

PMID22646670
PMCPMC3404911
OpenAlexW2066469496

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.