Comparison of CellSearch and Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC)-Biopsy Systems in Detecting Peripheral Blood Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to compare circulating tumor cells (CTCs)/circulating tumor microemboli (CTM) detection rates of the CellSearch and CTC-Biopsy systems in patients with gastric cancer (GC). We also investigated potential correlations between clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in patients with GC. MATERIAL AND METHODS This prospective study was conducted at the Shandong Institute of Cancer Prevention and Control in China. Fifty-nine patients with GC and 22 healthy volunteers were recruited and their peripheral blood samples were examined by the CTC-Biopsy system and CellSearch system for CTC. RESULTS The rate of detection of CTCs/CTM was significantly higher with the CTC-Biopsy system than with the CellSearch system (59.32% vs. 27.12%, P 3 detected with the CellSearch system, and not the CTC-Biopsy system, correlated with reduced progression-free survival and overall survival. CONCLUSIONS The CTC-Biopsy system was superior to the CellSearch system for detecting CTCs in GC patients. CTM were detected with the CTC-Biopsy system but not with the CellSearch system. CTCs detected with the CellSearch system correlated with various clinicopathological factors and long-term survival outcomes.