Detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer using the conditionally reprogrammed cell culture method and reverse transcription‑PCR of hTERT and MAGE&nbsp;A1‑6

Jeong,Young Ju; Park,Sung Hwan; Jeon,Chang-Ho

doi:10.3892/ol.2020.11939

Detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer using the conditionally reprogrammed cell culture method and reverse transcription‑PCR of hTERT and MAGE A1‑6

Authors:
- Young Ju Jeong
- Sung Hwan Park
- Chang-Ho Jeon
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Affiliations: Department of Surgery, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu 42472, Republic of Korea, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu 42472, Republic of Korea
Published online on: July 31, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.11939
Article Number: 78
Copyright: © Jeong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The present study aimed to verify the efficacy of the conditionally reprogrammed cell (CRC) culture method for the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in breast cancer. CTCs were isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer, and culture of the collected CTCs was performed according to the conditional reprogramming protocol. Total RNA was extracted from cultured CTCs, and the hTERT and MAGE A1‑6 genes were amplified using reverse transcription‑PCR (RT‑PCR). In addition, RNA extraction from another blood sample was performed and the expression of the two genes was analyzed by RT‑PCR only. Following CRC culture, grown CTCs were observed in 7 samples (23.3%). The CTC detection rates by RT‑PCR for the hTERT and MAGE A1‑6 genes in CTCs grown using the CRC culture method were 26.7 and 10.0%, respectively. The positive expression rates for the hTERT and MAGE genes in CTCs assessed by RT‑PCR only were 44.1 and 23.5%, respectively. When combining the positive expression rates of RT‑PCR only and CRC culture for the hTERT and MAGE A1‑6 genes, CTC detection rates increased to 53.3 and 23.3%, respectively. Additionally, when combining the positive expression rates of the two genes by either method, the CTC detection rate was the highest value observed. In conclusion, the present study revealed the potential of CRC culture in the detection of CTCs in breast cancer. Furthermore, a combination of CRC culture and RT‑PCR for the hTERT and MAGE A1‑6 genes is useful in enhancing the detection rate of CTCs in the blood.

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