Analysis of a Real-World Cohort of Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Shows Circulating Tumor Cell Clusters (CTC-clusters) as Predictors of Patient Outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration has emerged as a powerful biomarker for the assessment of prognosis and the response to treatment in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Moreover, clinical evidences show that CTC-cluster counts add prognostic information to CTC enumeration, however, their significance is not well understood, and more clinical evidences are needed. We aim to evaluate the prognostic value of longitudinally collected single CTCs and CTC-clusters in a heterogeneous real-world cohort of 54 MBC patients. Blood samples were longitudinally collected at baseline and follow up. CTC and CTC-cluster enumeration was performed using the CellSearch^® system. Associations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Cox proportional haz

SUBMITTER: Costa C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7281711 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature