Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition Heterogeneity of Circulating Tumor Cells and Their Correlation With MDSCs and Tregs in HER2-negative Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 661-670
Author(s):  
MARIA A. PAPADAKI ◽  
DESPOINA AGGOURAKI ◽  
ELENI-KYRIAKI VETSIKA ◽  
NIKOLAOS XENIDIS ◽  
GALAKTEA KALLERGI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Metastatic Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Epithelial To Mesenchymal Transition ◽  
Metastatic Breast ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Mesenchymal Transition

scholarly journals Fine analysis of atypical circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer patients reveals subsets with different prognostic values

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Lopresti ◽  
Laurys Boudin ◽  
Pascal Finetti ◽  
Séverine Garnier ◽  
Anaïs Aulas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Drug Resistance ◽  
Metastatic Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Epithelial To Mesenchymal Transition ◽  
Metastatic Breast ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Mesenchymal Transition ◽  
Circulating Cells

Purpose: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have a tremendous potential for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients. Here, we performed a unique analysis of all atypical circulating cells isolated with a filtration-based technology from metastatic breast cancer (mBC) patients. Patients and methods: The PERMED-01 study enrolled patients with mBC, refractory to systemic therapy, and with an accessible lesion to biopsy. We analyzed atypical circulating cells isolated from patients' blood at the time of inclusion using Screencell® Cyto device. For 23 out of 91 analyzed patients, this was completed by advanced immunofluorescence staining of atypical circulating cells. Subsets cut-offs were established using a two-component Gaussian finite Mixture Model, and evaluated for correlation with clinico-pathological data, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: Three subsets of atypical circulating cells, absent from controls (n=7), were observed in cancer patients (n=91): isolated (iCTCs), Clusters (CTM), and Giant CTCs (gCTCs). CTCs' median number was 8.33 per mL. Co-expression of stem and drug resistance markers was associated with intermediate epithelial to mesenchymal transition phenotype in CTM and gCTCs, but not in iCTCs. Presence of gCTC was associated with shorter PFS and OS. Concerning PFS, assigning an immunofluorescence-based Epithelial to Mesenchymal status improved their prognostic value. Conclusion: This study brings to light the diversity of CTCs in mBC patients and their specific molecular profiles regarding epithelial to mesenchymal transition, stemness and drug resistance status. It also highlights the involvement of an atypical circulating cell subset, the gCTCs, as a prognostic factor for PFS and OS.

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.

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