Figure 2

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in circulating tumor cells of patients with breast cancer. A (I): Representative images of cytospin double stained with monoclonal pancytokeratin (A45-B/B3) (green) and polyclonal VEGFR2 anti-rabbit (red) antibodies. A (II): Representative images of PBMCs cytospins stained with pancytokeratins A45 B/B3 (green), VEGFR2 anti-rabbit (red) antibodies and Dapi (blue). A (III): Quantification of VEGFR2 and CK co-expression in CTCs of 34 patients with metastatic breast cancer. CTCs were detected in all (100%) patients while in 47% double positive cells (VEGFR2⁺CK⁺) were identified. B (I): Representative image of a cytospin double stained with monoclonal pancytokeratin (A45-B/B3) (green) and polyclonal HIF-1α (red) antibodies. B (II): Representative images of PBMCs cytospins stained with pancytokeratins A45 B/B3 (green), HIF-1α anti-rabbit (red) antibodies and Dapi (blue). B (III): Quantification of HIF-1α and CK co-expression in CTCs of 34 patients with metastatic breast cancer. All the examined patients (100%) harvested CTCs in their blood, while 76% also presented double positive cells (HIF-1α⁺CK⁺).