Molecular detection of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers in circulating tumor cells from pancreatic cancer patients: Potential role in clinical practice

Table 2 Correlation between total circulating tumor cell status and clinicopathological factors of patients with pancreatic cancer

	Total CTC-negative patients (%)	Total CTC-positive patients (%)	P-value
Age, yr (median: 63, IQR: 52-76)
< 60	8/23 (34.8)	32/84 (38.1)	0.769
≥ 60	15/23 (65.2)	52/84 (61.9)
Gender
Male	16/23 (69.6)	47/84 (56.0)	0.313
Female	7/23 (30.4)	37/84 (44.0)
Ethnic group
Han ethnic group	14/23 (60.9)	59/84 (70.2)	0.346
Zhuang ethnic group	5/23 (21.7)	16/84 (19.1)
Li ethnic group	4/23 (17.4)	9/84 (10.7)
Differentiation
Well	3/23 (13.0)	7/84 (8.3)	0.435
Moderate	13/23 (56.5)	54/84 (64.3)
Poor	7/23 (30.5)	23/84 (27.4)
TNM stage
I	6/23 (26.1)	4/84 (4.8)	< 0.001
II	7/23 (30.4)	13/84 (15.5)
III	10/23 (43.5)	39/84 (46.4)
IV	0/23 (0)	28/84 (33.3)
Lymph node metastasis
Negative	13/23 (56.5)	34/84 (40.5)	0.023
Positive	10/23 (43.5)	50/84 (59.5)
Neural invasion
Negative	10/23 (43.5)	29/84 (34.5)	0.247
Positive	13/23 (56.5)	55/84 (65.5)
Distant metastasis
Negative	23/23 (100)	56/84 (66.7)	< 0.001
Positive	0/23 (0)	28/84 (33.3)

CTC: Circulating tumor cell; IQR: Interquartile range.