scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Review and Critical Appraisal

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (23) ◽  
pp. 13073
Author(s):  
María Lola Espejo-Cruz ◽  
Sandra González-Rubio ◽  
Javier Zamora-Olaya ◽  
Víctor Amado-Torres ◽  
Rafael Alejandre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Tumor Surveillance ◽  
Hcc Recurrence

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common neoplasm and a major cause of cancer-related death worldwide. There is no ideal biomarker allowing early diagnosis of HCC and tumor surveillance in patients receiving therapy. Liquid biopsy, and particularly circulating tumor cells (CTCs), have emerged as a useful tool for diagnosis and monitoring therapeutic responses in different tumors. In the present manuscript, we evaluate the current evidence supporting the quantitative and qualitative assessment of CTCs as potential biomarkers of HCC, as well as technical aspects related to isolation, identification, and classification of CTCs. Although the dynamic assessment of CTCs in patients with HCC may aid the decision-making process, there are still many uncertainties and technical caveats to be solved before this methodology has a true impact on clinical practice guidelines. More studies are needed to identify the optimal combination of surface markers, to increase the efficiency of ex-vivo expansion of CTCs, or even to target CTCs as a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent HCC recurrence after surgery or to hamper tumor progression and extrahepatic spreading.

Analysis of circulating tumor cells in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence following liver transplantation

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1.6-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoping Wang ◽  
Yujian Zheng ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Feng Huo ◽  
Jie Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Liver Transplantation ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Tumor Diameter ◽  
Multicenter Studies ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
T Stage ◽  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence ◽  
Hcc Recurrence

Although studies have shown that detection of peripheral circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is an important tool for monitoring prognosis and therapeutic response in patients with cancer, few studies have analyzed their role in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following liver transplantation (LTx). The present study examined whether CTC levels were associated with HCC recurrence in patients with HCC after LTx. This prospective study included 47 patients who received LTx between October 2014 and May 2016 and who underwent analysis for peripheral CTCs at least twice using the CanPatrol system. Baseline Edmondson stage, T stage, accumulated tumor diameter, microvascular cancer embolus, and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were greater in patients with recurrence (all p<0.05). In addition, 70.2% of patients with HCC were CTC-positive. Although the proportion of CTC subtypes changes following LTx and over the follow-up period with increased epithelial and interstitial CTC levels, no significant associations were observed between change in total CTCs or CTC subtype and HCC recurrence (all p>0.05). In conclusion, baseline Edmondson stage, T stage, accumulated tumor diameter, microvascular cancer embolus, and AFP levels may be predictive of HCC recurrence following LTx; however, CTC levels and subtypes were not. Further large, multicenter studies are necessary to confirm these results.

scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cells from Enumeration to Analysis: Current Challenges and Future Opportunities

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2723
Author(s):  
Yu-Ping Yang ◽  
Teresa M. Giret ◽  
Richard J. Cote
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Detection Sensitivity ◽  
Clinical Utilization ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Early Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Potential Marker ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Downstream Analysis

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been recognized as a major contributor to distant metastasis. Their unique role as metastatic seeds renders them a potential marker in the circulation for early cancer diagnosis and prognosis as well as monitoring of therapeutic response. In the past decade, researchers mainly focused on the development of isolation techniques for improving the recovery rate and purity of CTCs. These developed techniques have significantly increased the detection sensitivity and enumeration accuracy of CTCs. Currently, significant efforts have been made toward comprehensive molecular characterization, ex vivo expansion of CTCs, and understanding the interactions between CTCs and their associated cells (e.g., immune cells and stromal cells) in the circulation. In this review, we briefly summarize existing CTC isolation technologies and specifically focus on advances in downstream analysis of CTCs and their potential applications in precision medicine. We also discuss the current challenges and future opportunities in their clinical utilization.

scholarly journals Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using a Novel Cell Separation Strategy

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 3783-3793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Xu ◽  
Lu Cao ◽  
Lei Chen ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Xiao-Feng Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Cell Separation ◽  
Separation Strategy

scholarly journals Effect of surgical liver resection on circulating tumor cells in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BMC Cancer ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing-jing Yu ◽  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Shui-lin Dong ◽  
Hui-fang Liang ◽  
Zhi-wei Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Liver Resection ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells

scholarly journals Finding the seed of recurrence: Hepatocellular carcinoma circulating tumor cells and their potential to drive the surgical treatment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 967-978
Author(s):  
Francesca Carissimi ◽  
Matteo Nazzareno Barbaglia ◽  
Livia Salmi ◽  
Cristina Ciulli ◽  
Linda Roccamatisi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Surgical Treatment ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells

scholarly journals A small molecule screen identified N-Acetyl-L-cysteine for promoting ex vivo growth of single circulating tumor cells

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Teng ◽  
Mohamed Kamal ◽  
Oihana Iriondo ◽  
Yonatan Amzaleg ◽  
Chunqiao Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Circulating Tumor Cells ◽  
Small Molecule ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Blood Draw ◽  
Small Molecule Screen ◽  
Functional Analyses ◽  
Single Ctcs

AbstractCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) can be isolated via a minimally invasive blood draw and are considered a “liquid biopsy” of their originating solid tumors. CTCs contain a small subset of metastatic precursors that can form metastases in secondary organs, and provide a resource to identify mechanisms underlying metastasis-initiating properties. Despite technological advancements that allow for highly sensitive approaches of detection and isolation, CTCs are very rare and often present as single cells, posing an extreme challenge for ex vivo expansion after isolation. Here, using previously established patient-derived CTC lines, we performed a small molecule drug screening to identify compounds that can improve ex vivo culture efficiency for single CTCs. We found that N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and other antioxidants can promote ex vivo expansion of single CTCs, by reducing oxidative and other stress particularly at the initial stage of single cell expansion. RNA-seq analysis of growing clones and non-growing clones confirmed the effect by NAC, but also indicate that NAC-induced decrease in oxidative stress is insufficient for promoting proliferation of a subset of cells with heterogeneous quiescent and senescent features. Despite the challenge in expanding all CTCs, NAC treatment lead to establishment of single CTC clones that have similar tumorigenic features, which will facilitate future functional analyses.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document