Fig. 3

Metabolic characterizations on CTCs in the peripheral blood of PCa patients. a Images of multi-fluorescence signals representing the leukocyte marker (CD45) and glucose metabolic markers (GM markers: PGK1 and G6PD). The merged pattern shows the images of GM⁺CTCs, GM⁻CTCs, and leukocyte. Scale bar = 5 μm. b–d Comparison of the GM⁺CTCs numbers between the PCa patients in different subgroups of clinical characteristics, including the clinical stage (b), cancer metastasis (c), and serum tPSA level (d). e–h Comparison of the total CTCs numbers between the PCa patients in different subgroups of clinical characteristics, including the Gleason score (e), clinical stage (f), cancer metastasis (g), and serum tPSA level (h). ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001