Circulating tumor cells count and characterization in a male breast cancer patient

A 64-y-old man presented to Medical Oncology Department a metastatic invasive ductal breast carcinoma, positive for estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and Her2/neu negative. The patient was treated with different lines of therapy, with rapid radiological progression of disease. After four courses of a third-line chemotherapy, a radiological stable disease was maintained. The patient was followed by serial blood drawings for the characterization and count of circulating tumor cells (CTC). This is the first report concerning the predictive and prognostic value of CTC in a male breast cancer patient. © 2011 Landes Bioscience.