EGFR and HER3 expression in circulating tumor cells and tumor tissue from non-small cell lung cancer patients.

ABSTRACT: Although clinically relevant, the detection rates of EpCAM positive CTCs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are surprisingly low. To find new clinically informative markers for CTC detection in NSCLC, the expression of EGFR and HER3 was first analyzed in NSCLC tissue (n = 148). A positive EGFR and HER3 staining was observed in 52.3% and 82.7% of the primary tumors, and in 62.7% and 91.2% of brain metastases, respectively. Only 3.0% of the brain metastases samples were negative for both HER3 and EGFR proteins, indicating that the majority of metastases express these ERBB proteins, which were therefore chosen for CTC enrichment using magnetic cell-separation. Enrichment based on either EGFR or HER3 detected CTCs in 37.8% of the patients, while the combination of EGFR/HER3 enrichment with

SUBMITTER: Scharpenseel H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6520391 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature