Immune Checkpoint and EMT-Related Molecules in Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from Triple Negative Breast Cancer Patients and Their Clinical Impact.

ABSTRACT: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype. There are few targeted therapies for these patients, leading to an unmet need for new biomarkers. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of PD-L1, CTLA-4, GLU, and VIM in CTCs of TNBC patients. Ninety-five patients were enrolled in this study: sixty-four TNBC and thirty-one luminal. Of these patients, 60 were in the early stage, while 35 had metastatic disease. Protein expression was identified by immunofluorescence staining experiments and VyCAP analysis. All the examined proteins were upregulated in TNBC patients. The expression of the GLU⁺VIM⁺CK⁺ phenotype was higher (50%) in metastatic TNBC compared to early TNBC patients (17%) (p = 0.005). Among all

SUBMITTER: Vardas V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10093450 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature