scholarly journals Heterogeneous Manifestations of Epithelial–Mesenchymal Plasticity of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2504
Author(s):  
Liubov A. Tashireva ◽  
Olga E. Savelieva ◽  
Evgeniya S. Grigoryeva ◽  
Yuri V. Nikitin ◽  
Evgeny V. Denisov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Flow Cytometry ◽  
Prospective Study ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Invasive Carcinoma ◽  
Metastatic Progression ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Key Characteristics

To date, there is indisputable evidence of significant CTC heterogeneity in carcinomas, in particular breast cancer. The heterogeneity of CTCs is manifested in the key characteristics of tumor cells related to metastatic progression – stemness and epithelial–mesenchymal (EMT) plasticity. It is still not clear what markers can characterize the phenomenon of EMT plasticity in the range from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes. In this article we examine the manifestations of EMT plasticity in the CTCs in breast cancer. The prospective study included 39 patients with invasive carcinoma of no special type. CTC phenotypes were determined by flow cytometry before any type of treatment. EMT features of CTC were assessed using antibodies against CD45, CD326 (EpCam), CD325 (N-cadherin), CK7, Snail, and Vimentin. Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer are characterized by pronounced heterogeneity of EMT manifestations. The results of the study indicate that the majority of heterogeneous CTC phenotypes (22 out of 24 detectable) exhibit epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity. The variability of EMT manifestations does not prevent intravasation. Co-expression of EpCAM and CK7, regardless of the variant of co-expression of Snail, N-cadherin, and Vimentin, are associated with a low number of CTCs. Intrapersonal heterogeneity is manifested by the detection of several CTC phenotypes in each patient. Interpersonal heterogeneity is manifested by various combinations of CTC phenotypes in patients (from 1 to 17 phenotypes).

scholarly journals The Mechanical Fingerprint of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) in Breast Cancer Patients

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1119
Author(s):  
Ivonne Nel ◽  
Erik W. Morawetz ◽  
Dimitrij Tschodu ◽  
Josef A. Käs ◽  
Bahriye Aktas
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Hematopoietic Cells ◽  
Surrogate Marker ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Shape Restoration

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a potential predictive surrogate marker for disease monitoring. Due to the sparse knowledge about their phenotype and its changes during cancer progression and treatment response, CTC isolation remains challenging. Here we focused on the mechanical characterization of circulating non-hematopoietic cells from breast cancer patients to evaluate its utility for CTC detection. For proof of premise, we used healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), human MDA-MB 231 breast cancer cells and human HL-60 leukemia cells to create a CTC model system. For translational experiments CD45 negative cells—possible CTCs—were isolated from blood samples of patients with mamma carcinoma. Cells were mechanically characterized in the optical stretcher (OS). Active and passive cell mechanical data were related with physiological descriptors by a random forest (RF) classifier to identify cell type specific properties. Cancer cells were well distinguishable from PBMC in cell line tests. Analysis of clinical samples revealed that in PBMC the elliptic deformation was significantly increased compared to non-hematopoietic cells. Interestingly, non-hematopoietic cells showed significantly higher shape restoration. Based on Kelvin–Voigt modeling, the RF algorithm revealed that elliptic deformation and shape restoration were crucial parameters and that the OS discriminated non-hematopoietic cells from PBMC with an accuracy of 0.69, a sensitivity of 0.74, and specificity of 0.63. The CD45 negative cell population in the blood of breast cancer patients is mechanically distinguishable from healthy PBMC. Together with cell morphology, the mechanical fingerprint might be an appropriate tool for marker-free CTC detection.

A novel approach using telomerase-specific replication-selective adenovirus for detection of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer patients

2011 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 765-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Jin Kim ◽  
Akinori Masago ◽  
Yasuhiro Tamaki ◽  
Kenji Akazawa ◽  
Fumine Tsukamoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Novel Approach

Circulating Tumor Cells in HER-2 Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Trastuzumab and Chemotherapy

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel A. Nunes ◽  
Xiaochun Li ◽  
Soonmo Peter Kang ◽  
Harold Burstein ◽  
Lisa Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Metastatic Breast Cancer ◽  
Treatment Response ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Metastatic Breast ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Her 2

The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood may have important prognostic and predictive implications in breast cancer treatment. A limitation in this field has been the lack of a validated method of accurately measuring CTCs. While sensitivity has improved using RT-PCR, specificity remains a major challenge. The goal of this paper is to present a sensitive and specific methodology of detecting CTCs in women with HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer, and to examine its role as a marker that tracks disease response during treatment with trastuzumab-containing regimens. The study included patients with HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer enrolled on two different clinical protocols using a trastuzumab-containing regimen. Serial CTCs were measured at planned time points and clinical correlations were made. Immunomagnetic selection of circulating epithelial cells was used to address the specificity of tumor cell detection using cytokeratin 19 (CK19). In addition, the extracellular domain of the HER-2 protein (HER-2/ECD) was measured to determine if CTCs detected by CK19 accurately reflect tumor burden. The presence of CTCs at first restaging was associated with disease progression. We observed an association between CK19 and HER-2/ECD. The association of HER-2/ECD with clinical response followed a similar pattern to that seen with CK19. Finally, the absence of HER-2/ECD at best overall response and a change of HER-2/ECD from positive at baseline to negative at best overall response was associated with favorable treatment response. Our study supports the prognostic and predictive role of the detection of CTCs in treatment of HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. The association between CK19 and markers of disease burden is in line with the concept that CTCs may be a reliable measure of tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The association of CTCs at first restaging with treatment failure indicates that CTCs may have a role as surrogate markers to monitor treatment response.

scholarly journals Circulating tumor cells and drug history in primary breast cancer patients

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Jurisova ◽  
Marián Karaba ◽  
Gabriel Minarik ◽  
Juraj Benca ◽  
Tatiana Sedlackova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Primary Breast Cancer ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Drug History
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