HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Clinical trials for Circulating Tumor Cells

gdpawel · 01-09-2011, 10:40 AM

Detectable tumor cells in peripheral blood are present only in extremely small numbers. This precludes allowing a sufficient number of cells to incubate for a few days in the presence of chemotherapeutic agents. Analysis of a relatively small number of isolated cancer cells cannot yield the same quality information as subjecting living cells to chemotherapeutic agents, begging the question of whether or not it can accurately predict which drugs will work and which will not.

01-09-2011, 10:40 AM	#4
gdpawel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,080	Re: Clinical trials for Circulating Tumor Cells Detectable tumor cells in peripheral blood are present only in extremely small numbers. This precludes allowing a sufficient number of cells to incubate for a few days in the presence of chemotherapeutic agents. Analysis of a relatively small number of isolated cancer cells cannot yield the same quality information as subjecting living cells to chemotherapeutic agents, begging the question of whether or not it can accurately predict which drugs will work and which will not.