Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 25, Graz, 8036, Austria.
J Transl Med. 2013 Sep 17;11:214. doi: 10.1186/1479-5876-11-214.
Single circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or circulating tumor microemboli (CTMs) are potential biomarkers of renal cell cancer (RCC), however studies of CTCs/CTMs in RCC are limited. In this pilot study we aimed to evaluate a novel blood filtration technique suited for cytomorphological classification, immunocytochemical and molecular characterization of filtered, so called circulating non-hematologic cells (CNHCs) - putative CTCs/CTMs - in patients with RCC.
Blood of 40 patients with renal tumors was subjected to ScreenCell filtration. CNHCs were classified according to cytomorphological criteria. Immunocytochemical analysis was performed with antibodies against CD45, CD31 and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX, a RCC marker). DNA of selected CNHCs and respective primary tumors was analysed by array-CGH.
CNHC-clusters with malignant or uncertain malignant cytomorphological features - putative CTMs - were negative for CD45, positive for CD31, while only 6% were CAIX positive. Array-CGH revealed that 83% of malignant and uncertain malignant cells did represent with a balanced genome whereas 17% presented genomic DNA imbalances which did not match the aberrations of the primary tumors. Putative single CTCs were negative for CD45, 33% were positive for CD31 and 56% were positive for CAIX.
The majority of CNHC-clusters, putative CTMs, retrieved by ScreenCell filtration may be of endothelial origin. Morphological criteria seem to be insufficient to distinguish malignant from non-malignant cells in renal cancer.
单个循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）或循环肿瘤微栓（CTM）是肾细胞癌（RCC）的潜在生物标志物，但对 RCC 中 CTC/CTM 的研究有限。在这项初步研究中，我们旨在评估一种新的血液过滤技术，该技术适用于对过滤后的所谓循环非血细胞（CNHCs）——潜在的 CTC/CTM——进行细胞形态学分类、免疫细胞化学和分子特征分析。
40 例肾肿瘤患者的血液进行 ScreenCell 过滤。根据细胞形态学标准对 CNHCs 进行分类。用针对 CD45、CD31 和碳酸酐酶 IX（CAIX，RCC 标志物）的抗体进行免疫细胞化学分析。用 array-CGH 分析选定的 CNHCs 和相应的原发性肿瘤的 DNA。
具有恶性或不确定恶性细胞形态学特征的 CNHC-簇——潜在的 CTM——CD45 阴性，CD31 阳性，而 CAIX 阳性的仅为 6%。array-CGH 显示 83%的恶性和不确定恶性细胞具有平衡的基因组，而 17%的细胞具有与原发性肿瘤不一致的基因组 DNA 失衡。潜在的单个 CTC 对 CD45 阴性，33%的 CD31 阳性，56%的 CAIX 阳性。
通过 ScreenCell 过滤获得的大多数 CNHC-簇，即潜在的 CTM，可能来源于内皮细胞。形态学标准似乎不足以区分肾癌中的恶性细胞和非恶性细胞。
