Circulating Tumor Cell Clusters Are Cloaked with Platelets and Correlate with Poor Prognosis in Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lim M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8582483 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Early detection of metastasis can be aided by circulating tumor cells (CTC), which also show potential to predict early relapse. Because of the limited CTC numbers in peripheral blood in early stages, we investigated CTCs in pulmonary vein blood accessed during surgical resection of tumors. Pulmonary vein (PV) and peripheral vein (Pe) blood specimens from patients with lung cancer were drawn during the perioperative period and assessed for CTC burden using a microfluidic device. From 108 blood samples analyzed from 36 patients, PV had significantly higher number of CTCs compared with preoperative Pe (P < 0.0001) and intraoperative Pe (P < 0.001) blood. CTC clusters with large number of CTCs were observed in 50% of patients, with PV often revealing larger clusters. Long-term surveillance indicated that presence of clusters in preoperative Pe blood predicted a trend toward poor prognosis. Gene expression analysis by RT-qPCR revealed enrichment of p53 signaling and extracellular matrix involvement in PV and Pe samples. Ki67 expression was detected in 62.5% of PV samples and 59.2% of Pe samples, with the majority (72.7%) of patients positive for Ki67 expression in PV having single CTCs as opposed to clusters. Gene ontology analysis revealed enrichment of cell migration and immune-related pathways in CTC clusters, suggesting survival advantage of clusters in circulation. Clusters display characteristics of therapeutic resistance, indicating the aggressive nature of these cells. Thus, CTCs isolated from early stages of lung cancer are predictive of poor prognosis and can be interrogated to determine biomarkers predictive of recurrence. Cancer Res; 77(18); 5194-206. ©2017 AACR.
| S-EPMC5600850 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundWe analyzed clinical associations of MET alterations in the plasma of patients with diverse malignancies.MethodsDigital sequencing of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) (54-70 genes) was performed in 438 patients; 263 patients also had tissue sequencing (182-315 genes). The most represented tumor types were gastrointestinal (28.1%), brain (24.9%), and lung (23.2%). Most patients (71.2%) had recurrent/metastatic disease.ResultsMET alterations were observed in 31 patients (7.1%) and correlated with bone metastasis (P = 0.007), with TP53 (P = 0.001) and PTEN (P = 0.003) abnormalities, and with an increased number of alterations (median, 4 vs 1, P = 0.001) (all multivariable analyses). Patients with MET alterations demonstrated a significantly shorter median time to metastasis/recurrence (1.0 vs 10.4 months, P = 0.044, multivariable) and a poorer survival (30.6 vs 58.4 months, P = 0.013, univariate only). Of the 31 patients with MET alterations, 18 also had tissue testing; only two also had tissue MET alterations (11.1%); MET alterations were detected at a lower frequency in tissue (1.14%) compared to ctDNA (7.1%), with P = 0.0002.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the detection of MET alterations by liquid biopsy is feasible. MET ctDNA alterations were associated with a poorer prognosis, higher numbers of genomic abnormalities, and bone metastases. The correlation with bone metastases may explain the higher frequency of MET alterations in blood ctDNA than in tissue (since bones are rarely biopsied) and the previous observations of bone-predominant responses to MET inhibitors. The high number of co-altered genes suggests that MET inhibitors may need to be combined with other agents to induce/optimize responses.
| S-EPMC5987577 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Aim: Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are a precursor to metastasis in several types of cancer and are occasionally found in the bloodstream in association with immune cells, such as white blood cells (WBCs). CTC-associated WBC (CTC-WBC) clusters can promote CTC appreciation and metastasis, suggesting that patients with CTC-WBC clusters found in the peripheral blood may have a worse prognosis. However, it is unclear whether CTC-WBC clusters are present in the peripheral blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and suggest a poor prognosis for HCC. Methods: We collected peripheral blood from 214 patients with HCC from January 2014 to December 2016. CanPatrol™ CTC analysis technology was used to isolate and count CTCs and CTC-WBC clusters in the patients' peripheral blood. Chi-squared analysis was used to calculate the correlation between the CTC-WBC clusters and clinicopathological characteristics. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to assess patient prognosis. Results: We used CanPatrol™ CTC analysis technology to count different types of CTCs and CTC-WBC clusters. The results showed that CTC-WBC clusters and tumor size (P = 0.001), tumor number (P = 0.005), portal vein tumor thrombus (P = 0.026), BCLC stage (P < 0.001), AFP level (P = 0.002), and total number of CTCs (P < 0.001) were statistically related. Cox regression analysis revealed that CTC-WBC clusters are an independent prognostic indicator of DFS (HR = 1.951, 95%CI:1.348-2.824, P < 0.001) and OS (HR = 3.026, 95%CI:1.906-4.802, P < 0.001) in HCC patients. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, we found that positive CTC-WBC cluster patients had significantly shorter DFS and OS than patients with negative CTC-WBC (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: CTC-WBC clusters in the peripheral blood are an independent predictor of DFS and OS, and their presence indicates poor prognosis in patients with HCC.
| S-EPMC7667255 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have emerged as liquid biopsy biomarker providing non-invasive assessment of cancer progression and biology. We investigated whether longitudinal analysis of CTCs could monitor disease progression, response to chemotherapy, and survival in patients with unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). A total of 52 patients with PDAC were prospectively enrolled in this study. Peripheral blood samples were serially collected at the time of diagnosis and after chemotherapy with clinical assessments. CTCs were isolated through a centrifugal microfluidic disc, enumerated with immunostaining against Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), Cytokeratin (CK), Plectin-1 and CD45, and identified by an automated imaging system. One or more CTCs were detected in 84.62% patients with unresectable PDAC at the time of diagnosis. CTC numbers were not statistically different across tumor sizes, location and metastatic sites. The absolute number of CTCs after chemotherapy was inversely related to overall survival (OS), and the decreased number of CTCs after chemotherapy was significantly associated with longer OS in patients with PDAC. Identifying CTCs and monitoring CTC changes after chemotherapy could be a useful prognostic marker for survival in patients with unresectable PDACs.
| S-EPMC8718659 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To advance in our understanding of the biological pathways involved in breast cancer tumor progression we have analyzed a set of breast tumor biopsies in order to identify the genomic pathways in which tumor may develop. With this objective, a cDNA microarray platform containing 800 genes was constructed. These genes were chosen because they are in several representatives signaling pathways, namely estrogen and progesterone receptor related pathways, cell cycle, DNA repair, chromatin remodeling, cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell adhesion, cell invasion and angiogenesis. An analysis of the gene expression profile of a large group of breast tumors was carried out and good correlation with their clinical-histopathological data was obtained. We identified different tumor subclusters with distinctive phenotype characteristics within our population, which later correlated with clinical outcome. The most significant genes able to discriminate between different tumor phenotypes of our training set of samples were determined applying a “Leave-one-out” cross-validation method of statistical analysis called PAM (Prediction analysis of microarrays). The predictor was further tested on a new incoming set of samples where we determined to which subtype of tumor new samples were allocated and predicted outcome was compared to clinical data, showing how some distinct tumor phenotypes correlate with a poor prognosis. Pathway analysis of the most significant genes belonging to each phenotype was performed to elucidate the most representative biological signaling pathways through which tumor progression might elapse. We constructed a real time expression profiling platform with a selection of the most differentially expressed genes in each subtype, which could be used as a technique to help improve the diagnosis and prognosis of the breast tumor samples of our sample population.
2017-12-31 | GSE18908 | GEO
Project description:PURPOSE:To evaluate the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHODS:Cox's proportional hazards regression models were used to identify whether CTCs was a poor prognostic factor for NPC. Chi-square tests were used to analyze and compare the distribution characteristics of CTCs in NPC. ROC curve was used to estimate the cut-off point of CTCs. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to observe the prognostic value of CTCs alone and in combined with Epstein-Barr Virus DNA (EBV-DNA). RESULTS:CTCs was confirmed to be an independent risk factor for poor prognosis of NPC by Cox's regression models that enrolled 370 NPC cases and took age, gender, EBV-DNA and CTCs as variables. The proportion of CTCs in stage IV NPC was statistically different from that in stage III; the cut-off point of CTCs between stage IV (288 cases) and stage III (70 cases) NPC estimated by ROC curve was 0.5. The prognosis of advanced NPC patients became worse with the increase of CTCs count. The combined detection of CTCs and EBV-DNA could better predict the prognosis of NPC compared with the single detection of EBV-DNA.
| S-EPMC6858770 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is limited data on miRNA expression in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). In this study, we aimed to identify miRNAs that could be potential prognostic biomarkers of PanNETs in patients who underwent curative surgery. For miRNA target screening, 2 primary PanNETs and corresponding liver metastases were screened for miRNA expression by the NanoString nCounter analysis. Candidate miRNAs were selected by ?2-fold difference of expression between metastatic versus primary tumor. For miRNA target validation, quantitative real-time PCR was performed for candidate miRNAs on 37 PanNETs and matched nonneoplastic pancreata, and the miRNA levels were correlated with the clinicopathological features and patient survival data. Eight miRNAs (miRNA-27b, -122, -142-5p, -196a, -223, -590-5p, -630, and -944) were selected as candidate miRNAs. Only miR-196a level was significantly associated with stage, and mitotic count. When PanNETs were stratified into high (n?=?10) and low (n?=?27) miRNA-196a expression groups, miRNA-196a-high PanNETs were significantly associated with advanced pathologic T stage (50.0% vs 7.4%), N stage (50.0% vs 3.7%), higher mitotic counts (60.0% vs 3.7%), and higher Ki-67-labeling indices (60.0% vs 22.2%). In addition, high miRNA-196a expression was significantly associated with decreased overall survival (P?=?0.046) and disease-free survival (P?<?0.001) during a median follow-up of 37.9 months with the hazard ratio for recurrence of 16.267 (95% confidence interval?=?1.732-153.789; P?=?0.015). MiRNA-196a level may be a promising prognostic marker of recurrence in resected PanNETs, although further experimental investigation would be required.
| S-EPMC5058906 | biostudies-other
Project description:BACKGROUND:Occult metastatic tumors, below imaging thresholds, are a limitation of staging systems that rely on cross-sectional imaging alone and are a cause of the routine understaging of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs). We investigated circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as a preoperative predictor of occult metastatic disease and as a prognostic biomarker for PDAC patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:A total of 126 patients (100 with cancer, 26 with benign disease) were enrolled in our study and CTCs were identified and enumerated from 4 mL of venous blood using the microfluidic NanoVelcro assay. CTC enumeration was correlated with clinicopathologic variables and outcomes following both surgical and systemic therapies. RESULTS:CTCs were identified in 78% of PDAC patients and CTC counts correlated with increasing stage (? = 0.42, p < 0.001). Of the 53 patients taken for potentially curative surgery, 13 (24.5%) had occult metastatic disease intraoperatively. Patients with occult disease had significantly more CTCs than patients with local disease only (median 7 vs. 1 CTC, p < 0.0001). At a cut-off of three or more CTCs/4 mL, CTCs correctly identified patients with occult metastatic disease preoperatively (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.76-0.98, p < 0.0001). CTCs were a univariate predictor of recurrence-free survival following surgery [hazard ratio (HR) 2.36, 95% CI 1.17-4.78, p = 0.017], as well as an independent predictor of overall survival on multivariate analysis (HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.01-1.88, p = 0.040). CONCLUSIONS:CTCs show promise as a prognostic biomarker for PDAC patients at all stages of disease being treated both medically and surgically. Furthermore, CTCs demonstrate potential as a preoperative biomarker for identifying patients at high risk of occult metastatic disease.
| S-EPMC5896564 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInvoluntary weight loss related to cachexia is common in patients with advanced cancer, but the association between body composition changes and survival is still unclear in pancreatic cancer.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the clinical outcomes of 55 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer undergoing palliative therapy or best supportive care (BSC). The skeletal muscle index (SMI), visceral adipose tissue index (VATI), subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI), and visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue area ratio (VSR) were calculated based on the cross-sectional area on two sets of computed tomography images obtained at cancer diagnosis and 1 month later before treatment. The prognostic value of body composition indexes at diagnosis and the changes in those indexes over 1 month was then evaluated.ResultsIn total, 45 patients (81.8%) received chemotherapy, chemoradiation, or radiation therapy, whereas the remaining patients underwent BSC. There were 27 patients (49.1%) who had low SMI at cancer diagnosis. Univariate analysis showed no significant associations between the baseline body composition indexes including SMI, VATI, SATI, and VSR and survival. Meanwhile, male sex (HR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.16-6.71, p = 0.022) and higher decrease in VATI over 1 month (HR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.13-5.13, p = 0.023) were identified as independent risk factors for mortality in multivariate analysis.ConclusionRapid decline in VAT over 1 month is closely associated with poorer survival in unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer. A short-term assessment of body composition changes may be a rational approach to predict prognosis in these patients.
| S-EPMC8267120 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Targeting the desmoplastic stroma of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) holds promise to augment the effect of chemotherapy, but success in the clinic has thus far been limited. Preclinical mouse models suggest that near-depletion of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) carries a risk of accelerating PDAC progression, underscoring the need to concurrently target key signaling mechanisms that drive the malignant attributes of both CAF and PDAC cells. We previously reported that inhibition of IL1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4) suppresses NF?B activity and promotes response to chemotherapy in PDAC cells. In this study, we report that CAF in PDAC tumors robustly express activated IRAK4 and NF?B. IRAK4 expression in CAF promoted NF?B activity, drove tumor fibrosis, and supported PDAC cell proliferation, survival, and chemoresistance. Cytokine array analysis of CAF and microarray analysis of PDAC cells identified IL1? as a key cytokine that activated IRAK4 in CAF. Targeting IRAK4 or IL1? rendered PDAC tumors less fibrotic and more sensitive to gemcitabine. In clinical specimens of human PDAC, high stromal IL1? expression associated strongly with poor overall survival. Together, our studies establish a tumor-stroma IL1?-IRAK4 feedforward signal that can be therapeutically disrupted to increase chemotherapeutic efficacy in PDAC.Significance: Targeting the IL1?-IRAK4 signaling pathway potentiates the effect of chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Res; 78(7); 1700-12. ©2018 AACR.
| S-EPMC5890818 | biostudies-literature