Figure 1
Recovery of spiked MCF-7 cells in blood. Normal donor blood was drawn into K3EDTA tubes, CellSave tubes and BCTs and a known number of breast tumor cells (MCF-7) were spiked. The whole blood samples were analyzed on CellSearch system to determine recovery of spiked MCF-7 cells at indicated time points. The tumor cell recovery from BCTs (red square symbol) and CellSave tubes (green circle symbol) was stable and much higher than from K3EDTA (blue triangle symbol) tubes after the blood samples were transported and stored at RT for 4 days. Samples drawn into K3EDTA tubes that were transported and stored at RT showed a statistically significant decrease in CTC count when compared to samples transported in the BCT and CellSave (*P < 0.001, **P < 0.0003). Error bars indicate standard deviation, n = 7.