Detection of circulating tumor cells in blood of metastatic breast cancer patients using a combination of cytokeratin and EpCAM antibodies

Table 1 Accuracy and Precision of the CTC detection method

Expected CTC count	N	N	Observed CTC count			% Recovery
Expected CTC count	donors	samples	Mean	SD	95% CI	Mean	SD	95% CI	% CV
10	2	6	8	2.4	6–10	80	24	55–105	30
30	3	8	25	3	22–27	82	10	74–90	12
85	3	8	76	14	65–88	90	16	76–104	18
185	2	6	151	18	131–171	82	10	71–92	12
TOTAL	5	28				84	15	78–90	18

Observed vs. expected numbers of CTCs and recovery measured in blood samples of 5 healthy donors spiked with defined numbers of HCC1937 tumor cells.SD = standard deviation, CI = confidence interval of the mean, CV = coefficient of variation (SD/mean).

ISSN: 1471-2407