Turetta Matteo, Bulfoni Michela, Brisotto Giulia, Fasola Gianpiero, Zanello Andrea, Biscontin Eva, Mariuzzi Laura, Steffan Agostino, Di Loreto Carla, Cesselli Daniela, Del Ben Fabio
Department of Medicine, University of Udine, P.le Kolbe 4, 33100 Udine, Italy.
Immunopathology and Cancer Biomarkers, C.R.O. Aviano National Cancer Institute IRCCS, via F. Gallini 2, 33081 Aviano (PN), Italy.
Cancers (Basel). 2018 Aug 14;10(8):270. doi: 10.3390/cancers10080270.
Molecular characterization is currently a key step in NSCLC therapy selection. Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are excellent candidates for downstream analysis, but technology is still lagging behind. In this work, we show that the mutational status of NSCLC can be assessed on hypermetabolic CTC, detected by their increased glucose uptake. We validated the method in 30 Stage IV NSCLC patients: peripheral blood samples were incubated with a fluorescent glucose analog (2-NBDG) and analyzed by flow cytometry. Cells with the highest glucose uptake were sorted out. EGFR and KRAS mutations were detected by ddPCR. In sorted cells, mutated DNA was found in 85% of patients, finding an exact match with primary tumor in 70% of cases. Interestingly, in two patients multiple KRAS mutations were detected. Two patients displayed different mutations with respect to the primary tumor, and in two out of the four patients with a wild type primary tumor, new mutations were highlighted: EGFR p.746_750del and KRAS p.G12V. Hypermetabolic CTC can be enriched without the need of dedicated equipment and their mutational status can successfully be assessed by ddPCR. Finally, the finding of new mutations supports the possibility of probing tumor heterogeneity.
Cancers (Basel). 2018-8-14
Exp Mol Pathol. 2012-9-27
Thorac Cancer. 2019-10-30
Diagnostics (Basel). 2025-7-26
Int J Mol Sci. 2023-1-28
Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2017-3-2
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017-2-21
Cell Physiol Biochem. 2016