Department of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Martini Klinik, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 21;6:39736. doi: 10.1038/srep39736.
The relevance of blood-based assays to monitor minimal residual disease (MRD) in non-metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. Proving that clinically relevant circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be detected with available technologies could address this. This study aimed to improve CTC detection in non-metastatic PCa patients by combining three independent CTC assays: the CellSearch system, an in vivo CellCollector and the EPISPOT. Peripheral blood samples from high-risk PCa patients were screened for CTCs before and three months after radical prostatectomy (RP). Combining the results of both time points, CTCs were detected in 37%, 54.9% and 58.7% of patients using CellSearch, CellCollector and EPISPOT, respectively. The cumulative positivity rate of the three CTC assays was 81.3% (87/107) with 21.5% (23/107) of patients harboring ≥5 CTCs/7.5 ml blood. Matched pair analysis of 30 blood samples taken before and after surgery indicated a significant decrease in CTCs captured by the CellCollector from 66% before RP to 34% after therapy (p = 0.031). CTC detection by EPISPOT before RP significantly correlated with PSA serum values (p < 0.0001) and clinical tumor stage (p = 0.04), while the other assays showed no significant correlations. In conclusion, CTC-based liquid biopsies have the potential to monitor MRD in patients with non-metastatic prostate cancer.
血液检测在非转移性前列腺癌（PCa）患者中监测微小残留病灶（MRD）的相关性尚不清楚。证明可通过现有技术检测到具有临床相关性的循环肿瘤细胞（CTC），则可以解决这个问题。本研究旨在通过结合三种独立的 CTC 检测方法：CellSearch 系统、活体 CellCollector 和 EPISPOT，来提高非转移性 PCa 患者的 CTC 检测能力。对高危 PCa 患者在根治性前列腺切除术（RP）前和术后三个月进行外周血 CTC 筛查。综合两个时间点的结果，使用 CellSearch、CellCollector 和 EPISPOT 分别在 37%、54.9%和 58.7%的患者中检测到 CTC。三种 CTC 检测方法的累积阳性率为 81.3%（87/107），其中 21.5%（23/107）的患者存在≥5 个 CTC/7.5ml 血液。对 30 份手术前后采集的血液样本进行配对分析表明，CellCollector 捕获的 CTC 数量从 RP 前的 66%显著下降至治疗后的 34%（p=0.031）。RP 前 EPISPOT 检测到的 CTC 与 PSA 血清值显著相关（p<0.0001），与临床肿瘤分期相关（p=0.04），而其他检测方法则无显著相关性。总之，基于 CTC 的液体活检具有监测非转移性前列腺癌患者 MRD 的潜力。
