Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 324, 00141 Rome, Italy.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2013 Aug;139(8):1411-6. doi: 10.1007/s00432-013-1450-0. Epub 2013 Jun 5.
To assess the prognostic and predictive value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) irrespective of detection level.
We evaluated the prognostic and predictive significance of CTC count at baseline and under treatment in 119 mCRC subjects and compared the standard cutoff (≥3 CTCs/7.5 mL to ≥1 CTCs/7.5 mL).
An overall comparison was made between patients with 0, 1-2 and ≥3 CTC (median PFS 8, 4 and 5 months, respectively). Two poor prognostic groups were found, including patients with ≥1 CTCs before and during treatment and patients with 0 CTC at baseline who converted to ≥1 CTCs (p = 0.014).
The presence of at least 1 CTC at baseline count is predictive for poor prognosis in mCRC patients. Patients with 1-2 CTC should be switched from the favorable prognostic group--conventionally defined by the presence of <3 CTC--to the unfavorable, deserving a more careful monitoring.
评估循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）在转移性结直肠癌（mCRC）中的预后和预测价值，而不考虑检测水平。
我们评估了 119 例 mCRC 患者基线和治疗期间 CTC 计数的预后和预测意义，并比较了标准截断值（≥3 CTCs/7.5mL 与≥1 CTCs/7.5mL）。
对 0、1-2 和≥3 CTC 的患者进行了总体比较（中位 PFS 分别为 8、4 和 5 个月）。发现了两个预后不良的患者群体，包括基线时和治疗期间存在≥1 CTC 的患者，以及基线时 CTC 为 0 但转为≥1 CTC 的患者（p=0.014）。
基线时至少存在 1 个 CTC 计数与 mCRC 患者的不良预后相关。基线时存在 1-2 个 CTC 的患者应从通常由<3 CTC 定义的有利预后组转移到不利预后组，需要更仔细的监测。
