Circulating Tumor Cell cluster phenotype allows monitoring response to treatment and predicts survival.

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are putative markers of tumor prognosis and may serve to evaluate patient's response to chemotherapy. CTCs are often detected as single cells but infrequently as clusters and are indicative of worse prognosis. In this study, we developed a short-term culture of nucleated blood cells which was applied to blood samples from breast, lung, esophageal and bladder cancer patients. Clusters of different degrees of compactness, classified as very tight, tight and loose were observed across various cancer types. These clusters show variable expression of cytokeratins. Cluster formation from blood samples obtained during the course of chemotherapy was found to be associated with disease progression and shorter overall survival. The short-term cultures offer a robust and highly reliable method for early prediction of treatment response in different cancer types.

• Authors: Ajay Balakrishnan, Deepak Koppaka, Abhishek Anand, Barnali Deb, Gianluca Grenci, Virgile Viasnoff, Erik W Thompson, Harsha Gowda, Ramray Bhat, Annapoorni Rangarajan, Jean Paul Thiery, K Govind Babu, Prashant Kumar
• Journal: Scientific reports (Sci Rep) Vol. 9 Issue 1 Pg. 7933 (05 28 2019) ISSN: 2045-2322 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 31138856 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Keratins

Topics

• Antineoplastic Agents (therapeutic use)
• Breast Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis, drug therapy, pathology)
• Disease Progression
• Esophageal Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis, drug therapy, pathology)
• Female
• Humans
• Kaplan-Meier Estimate
• Keratins (analysis)
• Lung Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis, drug therapy, pathology)
• Neoplastic Cells, Circulating (drug effects, pathology)
• Prognosis
• Tumor Cells, Cultured
• Urinary Bladder Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis, drug therapy, pathology)