Evaluation of flow cytometry for the detection of circulating Ewing sarcoma cells
Approximately 25% of patients with Ewing sarcoma have circulating EWS fusion transcripts using RT-PCR. RT-PCR has several practical disadvantages. This study will evaluate a flow cytometry method we developed to detect circulating Ewing sarcoma cells. The primary aims are: 1. To establish the feasibility of this method and 2. To compare this method to RT-PCR results. Twenty patients with Ewing sarcoma will enroll. Blood and bone marrow will be evaluated for circulating tumor cells using flow cytometry and RT-PCR. The flow cytometry and RT-PCR results will be compared to determine whether this method merits further evaluation in larger studies.