Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 29, 2026
Adaptation of Semiautomated Circulating Tumor Cell CTC Assays for Clinical and Preclinical Research Applications
Published on: February 28, 2014
Are changes in circulating tumor cell (CTC) count associated with the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in local
Fei Fei1, Yueyao Du, Genhong Di
1Department of Breast Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Introduction:
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent a biomarker for tumor progression and monitoring therapeutic effects. We evaluated the association between the changes in CTC count and the pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) for local advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients.
Methods:
PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, conference proceedings and key trials for the period 1998-2012 were searched. We used the hazard ratio (HR) to evaluate the variation in the number of CTCs to predict the response to NCT in LABC patients. All data from each study were investigated using either fixed- or random-effect models and were analyzed using Stata software.
Results:
There was no between-study heterogeneity in pathological complete response (pCR) (heterogeneity chi-squared = 0.02 (df = 1), I(2) = 0.0%, p = 0.877). Our meta-analysis showed that the change (decrease or increase) in CTC number in LABC patients during NCT was not correlated with pCR (HR = 0.918, 95% confidence interval 0.650-1.295; p = 0.877).
Conclusion:
The results of the current meta-analysis indicate that there is no association between the decrease of CTC number and pCR after NCT. According to our results, a decrease in the CTC count after NCT in LABC patients did not indicate that they had an improved response to NCT. However, more randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm this conclusion.
