Table 1.

Average RQ values of all 20 negative controls and adjuvant breast cancer samples

Marker gene	RQ		p
	Negative controls, average (SD)	Adjuvant breast cancer samples, average (SD)
CK8	4.95 (13.807)	59.607 (128.609)	0.047
CK18	4.151 (6.918)	33.539 (66.957)	0.041
CK19	116.297 (176.702)	952.937 (1826.096)	0.057

For the adjuvant breast cancer samples, the RQ values are significantly higher (indicated by the p-value) than for the negative control samples, indicating the presence of CTCs.

RQ = Relative expression, SD = standard deviation, CK = cytokeratin.