Affiliations: Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jiang-Zhou Peng, Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, 138 West Zhongshan Ave, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510000, Guangdong, China. Tel.: +86 02 0627 84490; E-mail: Jiangzhou83@163.com.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a promising biomarker for cancer prognosis and monitoring. Molecular characterizing of CTCs could provide beneficial information on the basis of CTCs counting. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotypes and GALC mRNA expression of CTCs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. METHODS: We analyzed the baseline number, EMT classification, and GALC expression of CTCs in 47 NSCLC patients using CanPatrol platform and RNA in situ hybridization technique. RESULTS: CTCs were detected in 91.5% patients ranging 0–47/5 mL blood. Increased CTCs were associated with advanced tumor stages (6/5 mL) compared with early stages (3.5/5 mL). Patients with effective treatment response presented lower CTCs (3.5/5 mL) than patients with insufficient response (7/5 mL). Epithelial, hybrid and mesenchymal CTCs were detected in 55.4%, 78.7% and 61.7% patients, respectively. Patients with distant metastasis and poor curative outcomes presented higher level of EMT-CTCs. GALC expression was positive in CTCs of 80.6% patients and closely correlated with tumor number and distant metastasis and treatment outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: EMT phenotypes and GALC expression of CTCs are correlated with cancer metastasis and therapeutic outcomes, suggesting them to be potential markers for the prognosis of NSCLC.
Keywords: CTCs detection, cancer metastasis, circulating biomarkers, therapeutic monitoring and prognosis
