Fig. 2

Variation in the CTC cluster numbers identified in PC patients undergoing primary tumor resection (a) A stacked column chart represents the classification of tumor cells found in PC patients as single and clustered CTCs before and after primary tumor resection (mean ± SD, n = 33 samples from 9 patients). The samples (Percentage of single CTC vs CTC in cluster form) were found to be significantly different (****P < 0.0001), according to a two-way ANOVA test. (b) Box and whisker plot of clustered CTC numbers at different time points during cancer treatment of PC patients. (mean ± SD, n = 33 samples from 9 patients). Significance (*P = 0.0469) was calculated using Wilcoxon paired t test. (c) Immunofluorescence images of CTC clusters found in PC patients (red is CD45, green is cytokeratin and blue is DAPI). Scale bar of 20 μm. (d) A stacked column chart represents the number of CTCs in cluster form before and after primary tumor resection in PC patients who developed cancer recurrence (n = 8 samples from 2 patients). (e) Column chart represents the size distribution of the CTC clusters identified in PC patients (mean ± SD, n = 33 samples from 9 patients). Superimposed curves represent a nonlinear Gaussian regression. (f) Column chart represents the size distribution of the CTC clusters identified in patients that developed cancer recurrence (n = 8 samples from 2 patients)