CTCs vs. WBCs from a HNSCC patient

For further validation that the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) patients were indeed cancer cells rather than non-specific contaminated cells such as white blood cells (WBCs), we examined the copy number alterations (CNAs) of the captured CTCs by aCGH (array comparative genomic hybridization). We sorted CTCs (panCK+/CD45- cells) and WBCs (panCK-/CD45+ cells) by flow cytometry. Whole genome amplification (WGA) was performed using REPLI-g Single Cell Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and following the manufacturer's instructions following by aCGH. Healthy male genomic DNA was used as reference DNA.