Much effort has gone into developing fluid biopsies of patient peripheral blood for the monitoring of metastatic cancers. One common approach is to isolate and analyze tumor cells in the peripheral blood. Widespread clinical implementation of this approach has been hindered by the current choice of targeting epithelial markers known to be highly variable in primary tumor sites. Here, we review current antigen-based tumor cell isolation strategies and offer biological context for commonly studied cancer surface markers. Expression levels of the most common markers are quantitated for three breast cancer and two non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lineage models. These levels are contrasted with that present on healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) for comparison to expected background levels in a fluid biopsy setting. A key feature of this work is establishing a metric of markers per square micrometer. This describes an average marker density on the cell membrane surface, which is a critical metric for emerging isolation strategies. These results serve to extend expression of key tumor markers in a sensitive and dynamic manner beyond traditional positive/negative immunohistochemical staining to guide future fluid biopsy targeting strategies.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
9%
Immunology and Microbiology
1
9%
Chemistry
1
9%
Other
2
18%
Unknown
2
18%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 August 2026.
All research outputs
#10,262,116
of 33,973,571 outputs
Outputs from Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research
#46
of 191 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#90,655
of 298,231 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research
#3
of 9 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,973,571 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 69th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 191 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 298,231 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 9 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 6 of them.
