Does primary neoadjuvant systemic therapy eradicate minimal residual disease? Analysis of disseminated and circulating tumor cells before and after therapy

Table 3 Correlation between clinical data and DTCs, CTCs, and slCTCs before therapy

	Total	DTC-positive, n (%)	p Value	Total	CTC-positive, n (%)	p Value	Total	slCTC-positive (%)	p Value
Tumor size	139	37 (27)		132	31 (23)		89	44 (49)
cT1	32	5 (16)	0.27	32	10 (31)	0.26	26	15 (58)	0.56
cT2	86	25 (29)		81	19 (23)		53	25 (47)
Above cT2	21	7 (33)		19	2 (11)		10	4 (40)
Nodal status	141	38 (27)		134	32 (24)		90	45 (50)
cN0	77	28 (36)	0.03	74	21 (28)	0.62	46	24 (52)	0.44
cN1	56	9 (16)		53	11 (21)		39	20 (51)
cN2, cN3	8	1 (13)		7	0 (0)		5	1 (20)
Histology	140	37 (26)		133	32 (24)		90	45 (50)
Ductal	106	27 (25)	0.046	99	22 (22)	0.70	67	33 (49)	0.80
Lobular	16	8 (50)		17	5 (29)		12	7 (58)
Others	18	2 (11)		17	5 (29)		11	5 (45)
Grade	139	38 (27)		132	32 (24)		89	44 (49)
I	9	2 (22)	0.87	12	0 (0)	0.31	5	3 (60)
II	65	19 (29)		59	12 (20)		40	17 (43)	0.49
III	65	17 (26)		61	20 (33)		44	24 (55)
ER status	141	38 (27)		134	32 (24)		90	45 (50)
Negative	43	8 (17)	0.14	41	8 (20)	0.43	24	11 (46)	0.63
Positive	98	30 (31)		93	24 (26)		66	34 (52)
PR status	141	38 (27)		134	32 (24)		90	45 (50)
Negative	60	14 (23)	0.41	56	13 (23)	0.88	39	19 (49)	0.83
Positive	81	24 (30)		78	19 (24)		51	26 (51)

CTC circulating tumor cell, DTC disseminated tumor cell, ER estrogen receptor, PR progesterone receptor, slCTC stem cell–like circulating tumor cell

ISSN: 1465-542X