RESUMO
Endometrial adenocarcinoma is a common malignancy in women worldwide, with formation of remote metastasis occurring following oncological treatment. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are regarded to be the origin of haematogenous metastasis formation. The present study aimed to identify suitable marker genes using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) approach to detect CTCs from blood samples of patients with endometrial carcinoma. Therefore, RNA was isolated from endometrial adenocarcinoma cell lines and from healthy endometrial tissue and reverse transcribed to cDNA, which was then used in qPCR on a number of marker genes. Cytokeratin 19 and claudin 4 were identified as suitable marker genes for CTCs in endometrial adenocarcinoma, due to their high expression in the majority of the cell lines investigated. The expression values of the genes examined varied widely between the different cell lines, which is similar to the variation in the patient samples. Therefore, the necessity for a set of genes for CTC detection and not one single marker gene is demonstrated. qPCR is a fast, costefficient and easy to perform technique, which may be used in the detection of CTCs. Investigation of the occurrence of CTCs in cancer patients would aid in the prevention of metastasis and thereby refine treatment.