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Medical oncology

Clinical value of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer

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In a trial in patients with metastatic breast cancer, the prognostic value of the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) at baseline was independent of tumor subtype, except in patients with HER2-positive disease treated with anti-HER2 targeted therapy. These data support the use of CTC detection as a tool contributing to personalized medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center/Josephine Nefkens Institute and Cancer Genomics Center, Erasmus University Medical Center, 's Gravendijkwal 230, Rotterdam, 3015, GE, The Netherlands

    Stefan Sleijfer & John A. Foekens

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  1. Stefan Sleijfer
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  2. John A. Foekens
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Correspondence to John A. Foekens.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they receive grant support from Veridex, a Johnson & Johnson company.

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Sleijfer, S., Foekens, J. Clinical value of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 8, 696–698 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.167

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