Danova Marco, Torchio Martina, Comolli Giuditta, Sbrana Andrea, Antonuzzo Andrea, Mazzini Giuliano
Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, Vigevano Civic Hospital, ASST of Pavia, I-27029 Vigevano, Italy.
Department of Microbiology and Virology and Biotechnology Laboratories, IRCCS San Matteo Foundation, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
Mol Clin Oncol. 2018 Oct;9(4):355-361. doi: 10.3892/mco.2018.1701. Epub 2018 Aug 20.
The introduction in the clinical practice of several new approaches to cancer immunotherapy has greatly increased the interest in analytical methodologies that can define the immunological profile of patients in the clinical setting. This requires huge effort to obtain reliable monitoring tools that could be used to improve the patient's clinical outcome. The clinical applications of flow cytometry (FCM) in oncology started with the measurement of DNA content for the evaluation of both ploidy and cell cycle profile as potential prognostic parameters in the majority of human solid cancer types. The availability of monoclonal antibodies widely broadened the spectrum of clinical applications of this technique, which rapidly became a fundamental tool for the diagnosis and prognosis of malignant hematological diseases. Among the emerging clinical applications of FCM, the study of minimal residual disease in hematological malignancies, the quantification of blood dendritic cells in various types of tumors, the study of metastatic spread in solid tumors throughout both the analysis of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and the identification and characterization of circulating tumor cells, all appear very promising. More recently, an advanced single cell analysis technique has been developed that combines the precision of mass spectrometry with the unique advantages of FCM. This approach, termed mass cytometry, utilizes antibodies conjugated to heavy metal ions for the analysis of cellular proteins by a mass spectrometer. It provides measurement of over 100 simultaneous cellular parameters in a single sample and has evolved from a promising technology to a high recognized platform for multi-dimensional single-cell analysis. Should a careful standardization of the analytical procedures be reached, both FCM and mass cytometry could effectively become ideal tools for the optimization of new immunotherapeutic approaches in cancer patients.
几种癌症免疫治疗新方法在临床实践中的引入，极大地增加了人们对能够在临床环境中定义患者免疫特征的分析方法的兴趣。这需要付出巨大努力来获得可靠的监测工具，以用于改善患者的临床结局。流式细胞术（FCM）在肿瘤学中的临床应用始于通过测量DNA含量来评估大多数人类实体癌类型中的倍性和细胞周期特征，作为潜在的预后参数。单克隆抗体的可用性广泛拓宽了该技术的临床应用范围，它迅速成为恶性血液疾病诊断和预后的基本工具。在FCM新兴的临床应用中，血液系统恶性肿瘤中微小残留病的研究、各种肿瘤中血液树突状细胞的定量、通过循环内皮祖细胞分析和循环肿瘤细胞的鉴定及表征对实体瘤转移扩散的研究，都显得非常有前景。最近，一种先进的单细胞分析技术已经开发出来，它将质谱的精确性与FCM的独特优势相结合。这种方法称为质谱流式细胞术，利用与重金属离子偶联的抗体通过质谱仪分析细胞蛋白。它能够在单个样本中同时测量超过100个细胞参数，并且已经从一项有前景的技术发展成为一个高度认可的多维单细胞分析平台。如果能够实现分析程序的仔细标准化，FCM和质谱流式细胞术都可以有效地成为优化癌症患者新免疫治疗方法的理想工具。
