OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlations between circulating tumor cell (CTC) and clinicopathologic characteristics of tumors obtained by core needle biopsy in axillary lymph node positive primary breast cancer patients.

METHODSThe peripheral venous blood samples were collected from 126 patients with axillary lymph node positive primary breast cancer and were detected to found CTCs using the CellSearch automatic detection system. The associations between CTCs and clinicopathologic characteristics of tumors were analyzed in axillary lymph node positive primary breast cancer patients. All patients were female, age ranging from 27 to 65 years (median, 49 years).

RESULTSOne or more CTCs were detected from the peripheral blood in 25.4% (32/126) patients. The positive rate of CTCs was 36.2% (17/47) in the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) (+) patients, 19.0% (15/79) in the HER-2 (-) patients. In univariate analysis, there were significant differences about the positive rate of CTCs between the two groups (χ² = 4.592, P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, the risk of circulating tumor cells positive in HER-2 (+) patients was 2.712 times higher than in HER-2 (-) patients (OR = 2.712, 95% CI: 1.117-6.584, P = 0.027), whereas the positive rate of CTCs in axillary lymph node positive primary breast cancer patients showed no significant differences among the different subgroups with regards to age, menopausal status, the T staging of the tumor, histological type, histological grade, hormone receptor status and Ki-67 expression level (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThere are significant correlations between the presence of CTCs and the HER-2 status of the tumor in axillary lymph node positive primary breast cancer patients. No significant correlations are found between the presence of CTCs and the age, menopausal status, T staging of the tumor, histological type, histological grade, hormone receptor status and Ki-67 expression level.