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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2010 Jul 1;10(5):571–577. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2010.06.003

Table 3.

Sources and utilization of clinical material.

Clinical source Research use
Primary tumor biopsy Gene validation, xenograft transplantation for stem/progenitor cell capacity, establishment of orthotopic tumors, gene discovery, therapeutic response.
Metastatic tumor, lymph node biopsies Validation of gene expression by IF, establishment of xenograft tumors, gene discovery and functional studies.
CTCs (Circulating tumor cells) Analysis of genetic changes, validation of marker expression, single cell xenograft.
DTCs (Disseminated tumor cells from bone marrow aspirates) Similar as CTCs. In addition, essential contribution to metastatic dormancy and survival studies.