Subclassification of prostate cancer circulating tumor cells by nuclear size reveals very small nuclear circulating tumor cells in patients with visceral metastases.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has shown some clinical value, the pool of CTCs contains a mixture of cells that contains additional information that can be extracted. The authors subclassified CTCs by shape features focusing on nuclear size and related this with clinical information.

Methods

A total of 148 blood samples were obtained from 57 patients with prostate cancer across the spectrum of metastatic states: no metastasis, nonvisceral metastasis, and visceral metastasis. CTCs captured and enumerated on NanoVelcro Chips (CytoLumina, Los Angeles, Calif) were subjected to pathologic review including nuclear size. The distribution of nuclear size was analyzed using a Gaussian mixture model. Correlations were made between CTC subpopulations

SUBMITTER: Chen JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4560974 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature