Publications by authors named "Tulasi I Solanki"
Purpose: Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) expressing epithelial markers in the bone marrow are associated with recurrence and death, but little is known about risk factors predicting their occurrence. We detected EPCAM+/CD45- cells in bone marrow from early stage breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in the I-SPY 2 Trial and examined clinicopathologic factors and outcomes.
Methods: Patients who signed consent for SURMOUNT, a sub-study of the I-SPY 2 Trial (NCT01042379), had bone marrow collected after NAC at the time of surgery.
Article Synopsis
- Enumerating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) is important for predicting clinical outcomes but is technically challenging due to their rarity.
- A new detection method has been developed that combines EPCAM-based immunomagnetic enrichment with flow cytometry (IE/FC) for accurate quantification.
- This two-step assay takes about 2 hours and allows for the isolation of pure tumor cells for further molecular analysis.