Limitations of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses for detection of micrometastatic epithelial cancer cells in bone marrow.

Abstract

Limiting factors in the detection of micrometastatic tumor cells by RT-PCR are (1) the illegitimate transcription of tumor-associated or epithelial-specific genes in hematopoietic cells, and (2) the deficient expression of the marker gene in micrometastatic tumor cells.