Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC)

CellSearch™ provides a measurement of circulating tumor cells (CTC)—cancer cells that have separated from a solid tumor site and are circulating in the bloodstream—to provide additional information in assessing disease status.

Additional information about a patient’s prognosis—before and after initiation of therapy—can help guide clinical recommendations for each patient’s individual care.

For Serial Monitoring

• Measuring CTC allows you to assess patient prognosis at any time point during therapy.

• A reduction in CTC count to less than 5 CTC/7.5mL after initiation of therapy indicates a longer period of progression- free survival.2

• The level of circulating tumor cells provides prognostic information similar to imaging.

• Evaluation of CTC “correlated with survival at least as well as serial radiographic assessment” and “is more reproducible than is radiologic evaluation.”

Note This assay requires whole blood collected in a CellSave® preservative tube. Call US LABS Brentwood, TN at 800-874-8532 to obtain collection kit and tube. Specimen must arrive at US LABS Brentwood, TN within 96 hours of collection. Collect specimen Monday-Thursday only. Do not refrigerate.

Use Provides enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTC) of epithelial origin in whole blood.

Limitations Patients on doxorubicin therapy should wait 7 days following administration of the last dose before collection, as this has been shown to interfere with interpretation of the CellSearch test. CTCs that do not express EpCAM will not be detected by the CellSearch test. CTCs that express EpCAM but not cytokeratins 8, 18, and 19 will not be detected by the CellSearch test.

Methodology Immunomagnetic selection, identification and enumeration of CTC in peripheral blood sample enrichment.

*CellSave is a registered trademark of Veridex LLC, a Johnson + Johnson Company.