Circulating tumour cells and their association with bone metastases in patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

Affiliation

Department of Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK. [Email]

Abstract

Bone metastases are associated with a worse outcome in patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). Tumour overexpression of C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) appears predictive of skeletal involvement. We investigated the role of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and CXCR4 expression on CTCs as potential predictors of skeleton invasion.