Patent ID: 9645154
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: A61P,G01N

Claim:
1. A method for testing a peripheral blood-containing sample for cancer cells, the method comprising: contacting in vitro test cells present in the blood-containing sample with a labeling substance under conditions sufficient for the test cells to react with the labeling substance to form labeled test cells, wherein the labeling substance is incorporated into the cancer cells and metabolized to protoporphyrin IX, and the following conditions of (i) and (ii) are satisfied: (i) contacting in vitro the peripheral blood-containing sample comprising the test cells with the labeling substance in the presence of 0.1 to 10 mM of a Mg ion and/or a Ca ion and at least one selected from the group consisting of a reducing agent and an endocytosis-including substance; (ii) the test cells are allowed to incorporate the labeling substance from 15 minutes to 120 minutes, wherein the labeling substance is at least one selected from the group consisting of aminolevulinic acid, a salt of aminolevulinic acid, an ester of aminolevulinic acid and a salt of an ester of aminolevulinic acid, and wherein the method is sufficiently sensitive to detect a cancer cell in the sample when the sample has a cancer cell density of 0.05 cells/mL to 5,000 cells/mL.