Circulating tumor cell enumeration for improved screening and disease detection of patients with colorectal cancer.

Background: The immunochemical fecal occult blood test (iFOBT) for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and the serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) assay for disease detection of CRC is associated with a high false-positive rate and a low detection sensitivity, respectively. There is an unmet need to define additional modalities to complement these assays. Different subsets of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in the peripheral blood of cancer patients.

Sequential Circulating Tumor Cell Counts in Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Monitoring the Treatment Response.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most common causes of cancer death in men. Whether or not a longitudinal follow-up of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) before and at different time points during systemic/targeted therapy is useful for monitoring the treatment response of patients with locally advanced or metastatic HCC has been evaluated in this study. Blood samples ( = 104) were obtained from patients with locally advanced or metastatic HCC ( = 30) for the enrichment of CTCs by a negative selection method.

A potential bioactive hard-stock fat replacer comprised of a molecular gel.

Short-chain ceramides, such as -acetoyl-d-erythro-sphingosine (C2), have a remarkable ability to structure edible oils, such as canola oil, into self-standing organogels without any added saturated or fats. These short-chain ceramides are ubiquitously found in foods ranging from eggs to soybeans. As the ceramide fatty acid chain length increases, there is an increase in the melting temperature of the organogel and a decrease in the elastic modulus.