. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Apr 22.

Published in final edited form as: J Patient Cent Res Rev. 2014 Spring;1(2):85–92. doi: 10.17294/2330-0698.1017

Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of current CTC isolation techniques.

	Approach	Advantage	Disadvantage
IHC-Based	CellSearch CTC Chip Filter-Based μCell Concentrator	Cell morphology Cell enumeration Multiple stainings Localization of staining	Multi-step Positive selection with EpCAM
PCR-Based	CK19 Mammoglobin CEA	Multiplex	High background Limited to CTC specific markers Low cell number No cell enumeration

IHC: immunohistochemistry; CTC: circulating tumor cell; CK19: cytokeratin-19; CEA: carcinoembryonic antigen.