Henn Tara E, Anderson Ashley N, Hollett Yvette R, Sutton Thomas L, Walker Brett S, Swain John R, Sauer David A, Clayburgh Daniel R, Wong Melissa H
Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Head Neck. 2021 Jul;43(7):2193-2201. doi: 10.1002/hed.26692. Epub 2021 Apr 9.
Levels of circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), a newly identified circulating tumor cell (CTC), correlate with disease stage and progression in cancer. We investigated their utility to risk-stratify patients with clinically N0 (cN0) oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC), and to identify patients with occult cervical lymph node metastases (pN+).
We analyzed peripheral blood samples for CHCs with co-expression of cytokeratin (tumor) and CD45 (leukocyte) from 22 patients with cN0 OCSCC using immunofluorescence microscopy, then correlated levels with pathologic lymph node status.
CHC levels exceeded CTCs and correlated with the presence of both clinically overt (p = 0.002) and occult nodal metastases (p = 0.006).
For evaluated cN0 OCSCC patients, those with cN0 → pN+ status harbored elevated CHC levels compared to patients without occult disease. Our findings highlight a promising blood-based biologic assay with potential utility to determine the necessity of surgical neck dissection for staging and treatment.
循环杂交细胞（CHCs）是一种新发现的循环肿瘤细胞（CTC），其水平与癌症的疾病分期和进展相关。我们研究了它们在对临床N0（cN0）口腔鳞状细胞癌（OCSCC）患者进行风险分层以及识别隐匿性颈淋巴结转移（pN+）患者方面的效用。
我们使用免疫荧光显微镜分析了22例cN0 OCSCC患者外周血样本中的CHCs，这些CHCs共表达细胞角蛋白（肿瘤）和CD45（白细胞），然后将水平与病理淋巴结状态相关联。
CHC水平超过CTC，并且与临床明显转移（p = 0.002）和隐匿性淋巴结转移（p = 0.006）均相关。
对于评估的cN0 OCSCC患者，与无隐匿性疾病的患者相比，cN0→pN+状态的患者CHC水平升高。我们的研究结果突出了一种有前景的基于血液的生物学检测方法，其在确定手术颈部清扫用于分期和治疗的必要性方面具有潜在效用。
