Detection and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells in ovarian cancer patients – establishment of a multi-marker gene panel

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are present in approximately 20% of ovarian cancer patients at primary diagnosis and were shown to correlate with decreased overall survival. However, considering that CTCs with epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT)- or stem-like traits are supposed to be involved in metastatic progression and recurrence, we established a multi-marker panel for molecular characterization of CTCs, detecting EMT- and tumor stem cell associated transcripts. Dual priming oligonucleotide primers for three independent multiplex RT-PCR panels were designed for detection of transcripts, associated with ep…