Table 2.
Numbers of SET-CTCs, epithelial-CTCs, and mesenchymal-CTCs in breast cancer patients and healthy controls along with their characteristics. *P<0.05, **P<0.01.
| Breast cancer patients | Healthy controls | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage I–III | Recurrent | ||
| Number of samples | 18 | 6 | 10 |
| Age |
52.5 ± 13.7 (37–87) |
60.0 ± 10.0 (43–69) |
36.2 ± 14.1 (21–64) |
| Lymph node metastasis | |||
| Yes | 10 | – | – |
| No | 7 | ||
| SET-CTCs | |||
| Samples with ≥ 1 | 13 (72.2%) | 6 (100%)** | 4 (40.0%) |
| Samples with ≥ 4 | 8 (44.4%)* | 5 (83.3%)** | 0 |
|
Median (range) |
2.5* (0–14) |
12** (3–38) |
0 (0–3) |
| Epithelial-CTCs | |||
| Samples with ≥ 1 | 3 (16.7%)* | 4 (66.7%)** | 0 |
|
Median (range) |
0* (0–5) |
4** (0–21) |
0 |
| Mesenchymal-CTCs | |||
| Samples with ≥ 1 | 13 (72.2%)* | 5 (83.3%)** | 0 |
|
Median (range) |
1.5* (0–26) |
6.5* (0–12) |
0 |