Abstract: Objective To compare the positive rates and correlation of CellSearch system and real-time quantitation polymerase chain reaction（qRT-PCR） platform in the detection of circulating tumor cells（CTC） in single-marker-[epithelial cell adhesion molecule（EpCAM）] and multi-marker-[EpCAM,CD133,CD90 and cytokeratin 19（CK19）] labeled patterns among hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） patients. Methods The peripheral blood samples of 32 HCC patients were collected,and CTC were detected by CellSearch system and qRT-PCR platform（single-marker and multi-marker）. The positive rates and correlation were analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis. Results The positive rate of CTC detection by single-marker（EpCAM） qRT-PCR platform was 46.9%（15/32）,and that by multi-marker（EpCAM,CD133,CD90 and CK19） was 65.6%（21/32）. The positive rate of CTC detection by CellSearch system was 28.1%（9/32）. The consistency of positive rate between single-marker qRT-PCR platform and CellSearch system was 75.0%（24/32,P=0.002）,that between multi-marker qRT-PCR platform and CellSearch system was 56.3%（18/32,P=0.034）,and that between single-marker and multi-marker qRT-PCR platform was 81.3%（26/32,P=0.000）. When using the qRT-PCR platform for multi-marker,the percentages of the 4 markers varied,and there existed obvious heterogeneity. Conclusions The multi-marker qRT-PCR platform can improve the positive rate of peripheral blood CTC detection in HCC patients,which directly reflects tumor heterogeneity and fits diverse detection demands.

Key words: Real-time quantitation polymerase chain reaction, CellSearch system, Circulating tumor cell, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Marker, Heterogeneity