Epithelial circulating tumor cells with a heterogeneous phenotype are associated with metastasis in NSCLC

Objectives To analyze the clinical relevance of heterogeneous phenotypes of peripheral circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods CTCs in 5 mL venous blood were enriched using the Canpatrol™ CTC technique in 82 NSCLC patients. And then, CTCs were subjected to RNA in situ hybridization with a combination of epithelial (EpCAM and CK8/18/19) and mesenchymal (vimentin and TWIST1) markers. Results According to the fluorescent dots, CTCs were classified into three groups, including epithelial CTCs (E-CTC), hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal phenotypes (E/M-CTCs) and mesenchymal CTCs (M-CTCs). In 82 NSCLC cohort, only 2 patients didn’t detect CTCs, the overall CTCs detection rate was 97.5% (80/82). For 60 treatment naïve NSCLC, only one patient didn’t detect CTCs. The median number of total CTCs, hybrid E/M phenotype CTCs, E-CTCs and M-CTCs per 5 mL blood was 22 (range 1–90), 13 (range 0–83), 1 (range 0–17 and 0–47), respectively. Hybrid E/M CTCs, especially the e = m-CTCs, significantly differed between patients with and without distant metastasis. M-CTCs in advanced NSCLC patients were significantly more than the numbers observed in early stage patients. Patients with pure hybrid E/M-CTCs showed a lower proportion in distant metastasis positive cohort compared to negative ones (7% vs 22%), while patients with E + E/M CTCs (20% vs 9%) and E/M + M CTCs (33% vs 20%) showed a higher proportion. CTCs dynamic changes after treatment in 12 advanced NSCLC patients suggested that hybrid E/M-CTCs were related to the primary tumor size at baseline, while M-CTCs may suggest the progression of NSCLC. Conclusion We concluded that E-CTCs with a hybrid E/M phenotype are associated to metastasis in therapy-naïve NSCLC patients..

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:148

Enthalten in:

Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology - 148(2021), 5 vom: 13. Juli, Seite 1137-1146

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Zhang, Yujuan [VerfasserIn]
Men, Yu [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Jianyang [VerfasserIn]
Xing, Puyuan [VerfasserIn]
Zhao, Jun [VerfasserIn]
Li, Junling [VerfasserIn]
Xu, Danfei [VerfasserIn]
Hui, Zhouguang [VerfasserIn]
Cui, Wei [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext [kostenfrei]

BKL:

44.81$jOnkologie

Themen:

E/M-CTCs
E-CTCs
EMT
Metastasis
NSCLC

RVK:

RVK Klassifikation

Anmerkungen:

© The Author(s) 2021

doi:

10.1007/s00432-021-03681-9

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

OLC2130182453