Disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow of gastric cancer patients: correlation with tumor hypoxia and clinical relevance.

Aim. The evaluation of the clinical relevance of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow (BM) of patients with gastric cancer (GC) and their association with primary tumor hypoxia. Patients and Methods.

Hypoxia, tumour-associated macrophages, microvessel density, VEGF and matrix metalloproteinases in human gastric cancer: interaction and impact on survival.

Introduction: Hypoxia is a key feature of the microenvironment of cancer cells actively participating in tumour progression. Our study was aimed to evaluate the impact of hypoxia and hypoxia-associated factors on tumour progression and survival of patients with gastric cancer.

Material And Methods: One hundred and five resected specimens were used.

Detection of circulating tumor cells by cytokeratin 20 and prostate stem cell antigen RT-PCR in blood of patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

Background: Detection of circulating tumor cells in blood may be an important diagnostic and prognostic factor in the management of tumor patients. The present study aimed to examine whether cytokeratin 20 (CK-20) and prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) are useful markers for the detection of disseminated cancer cells in the blood of tumor patients.

Materials And Methods: A nested RT-PCR assay was used to detect CK-20 and PSCA mRNA in blood samples from 18 healthy donors, 15 patients with non-malignant disease, 9 patients with benign tumors and 47 patients with malignant tumors (11 pancreatic carcinoma, 8 gastric cancer, 15 colorectal carcinoma and 13 miscellaneous tumors).