A gene expression profile that predicts circulating tumor cell presence in breast cancer patients

Development of a primary tumor gene expression profile that can predict the presence of circulating tumor cells in the blood of breast cancer patients. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood and microarray gene expression profiling of the primary tumor are two promising new technologies able to provide valuable prognostic data for patients with breast cancer. In the current study, we aimed to develop a novel profile which provided independent prognostic data by building a signature predictive of CTC status rather than outcome. Seventy-two primary breast cancer tumor have been analyzed against a breast cancer reference pool.