Strati Areti, Nikolaou Michail, Georgoulias Vassilis, Lianidou Evi S
Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Lab, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece.
Medical Oncology Unit, "Elena Venizelou" Hospital, 11521 Athens, Greece.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Mar 14;11(3):513. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11030513.
In metastatic breast cancer (MBC) the molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) provides a unique tool to understand metastasis-biology and therapy-resistance. We evaluated the prognostic significance of gene expression in EpCAM CTCs in 46 MBC patients based on a long follow-up. We selected a panel consisting of stem cell markers (, , ), the mesenchymal marker , receptors (, , , ) and the epithelial marker . Singleplex RT-qPCR was used for and and multiplex RT-qPCR for stem cell markers and receptors. A group of 19 healthy donors (HD) was used as control. Univariate ( = 0.001) and multivariate analysis ( = 0.002) revealed the prognostic value of combined gene expression of (+), , and over-expression for overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier estimates of OS were significantly different in patients positive for ( = 0.028), ( = 0.002), ( = 0.007) and -positive ( = 0.022). Our results indicate that combined gene expression analysis in EpCAM CTCs provides prognostic information in MBC.
在转移性乳腺癌（MBC）中，循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）的分子特征为理解转移生物学和治疗耐药性提供了一个独特的工具。基于长期随访，我们评估了46例MBC患者中EpCAM CTCs基因表达的预后意义。我们选择了一个由干细胞标志物（……）、间充质标志物、受体（……）和上皮标志物组成的基因组合。对……使用单重RT-qPCR，对干细胞标志物和受体使用多重RT-qPCR。一组19名健康供体（HD）用作对照。单因素分析（……）和多因素分析（……）显示，（+）、……、……和……过表达的联合基因表达对总生存期（OS）具有预后价值。在……阳性（……）、……阳性（……）、……阳性（……）和……阳性（……）的患者中，OS的Kaplan-Meier估计值有显著差异。我们的结果表明，EpCAM CTCs中的联合基因表达分析可为MBC提供预后信息。
