Biomarkers characterization of circulating tumour cells in breast cancer patients

Breast Cancer Research

Table 2 Biomarker circulating tumor cell profile in relation to breast cancer subtypes

	Triple-negative number (percentage)	Luminal number (percentage)	HER2⁺ number (percentage)	Pvalue
ER⁺ CTCs	1 (16.7)	7 (63.6)	2 (66.7)	NS
ER^- CTCs	5 (83.3)	4 (36.4)	1 (33.3)
PR⁺ CTCs	1(50)	8 (33.3)	0 (0)	NS
PR^- CTCs	1(50)	16 (66.7)	1 (100)
EGFR⁺ CTCs	2 (11.1)	24 (35.8)	1 (7.7)	0.03
EGFR^- CTCs	16 (88.9)	43 (64.2)	12 (92.3)
HER2⁺ CTCs	0 (0)	0 (0)^a	0 (0)	Unable to determine
HER2^- CTCs	8 (100)	16 (100)	2 (100)
TOP2A⁺ CTCs	1 (12.5)	1 (6.3)^a	0 (0)	NS
TOP2A^- CTCs	7 (87.5)	15 (93.7)	2 (100)

^aPolysomy 17-circulating tumor cell (17p CTC). The three breast cancer subtypes are triple-negative (estrogen receptor-negative [ER^-], progesterone receptor-negative [PR^-], and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative [HER2^-]), luminal (ER⁺ and/or PR⁺ and HER2^-), and HER2 (HER2-amplified tumors). P values were determined by chi-squared tests. All statistical tests were two-sided. ER⁺ CTCs, estrogen receptor-positive circulating tumor cells; ER^- CTCs, estrogen receptor-negative circulating tumor cells; PR⁺ CTCs, progesterone receptor-positive circulating tumor cells; PR^- CTCs, progesterone receptor-negative circulating tumor cells; EGFR⁺ CTCs, epidermal growth factor receptor-positive circulating tumor cells; EGFR^- CTCs, epidermal growth factor receptor-negative circulating tumor cells; HER2⁺ CTCs, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive circulating tumor cells; HER2^- CTCs, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative circulating tumor cells; NS, not significant; TOP2A⁺ CTCs, topoisomerase 2α-positive circulating tumor cells; TOP2A^- CTCs, topoisomerase 2α-negative circulating tumor cells.

ISSN: 1465-542X