Molecular Biology and Nutrition Research Group, School of Medicine, Graduate Program in Health Science, Av. Amazonas sn, Block 2E, 2º Floor, Room 210, Campus Umuarama, Uberlandia 38405-320, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology Prof. Dr. Luiz Ricardo Goulart Filho, Institute of Biotechnology, Federal University of Uberlandia, Av. Amazonas sn, Block 2E, 2º Floor, Room 248, Campus Umuarama, Uberlandia 38405-302, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Oct 9;23(19):11983. doi: 10.3390/ijms231911983.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been identified as responsible for the spread of tumors to other organs of the body. In this sense, the development of sensitive and specific assays for their detection is important to reduce the number of deaths due to metastases. Here, we assessed whether the detection of CTCs in peripheral blood can serve in the construction of a panel of diagnosis and monitoring treatments of breast cancer (BC), focusing on the expression of markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Through analyzing the blood from women without breast alterations (control), women with benign alterations, women with breast cancer without chemotherapy, and women with breast cancer with chemotherapy, we identified the best markers by transcriptional levels and determined three profiles of CTCs (mesenchymal, intermediate, and epithelial) by flow cytometry which, combined, can be used for diagnosis and therapy monitoring with sensitivity and specificity between 80% and 100%. Therefore, we have developed a method for detecting breast cancer based on the analysis of CTC profiles by epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers which, combined, can be used for the diagnosis and monitoring of therapy.
循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）已被确定为肿瘤扩散到身体其他器官的原因。从这个意义上说，开发用于检测它们的敏感和特异的检测方法对于减少因转移而导致的死亡人数非常重要。在这里，我们评估了外周血中 CTC 的检测是否可以用于构建乳腺癌（BC）的诊断和监测治疗的面板，重点是上皮-间充质转化标志物的表达。通过分析无乳腺改变的女性（对照组）、良性改变的女性、未经化疗的乳腺癌女性和接受化疗的乳腺癌女性的血液，我们根据转录水平确定了最佳的标志物，并通过流式细胞术确定了三种 CTC 表型（间质型、中间型和上皮型），这些标志物组合在一起可以用于诊断和治疗监测，具有 80%到 100%的敏感性和特异性。因此，我们开发了一种基于上皮-间充质转化标志物分析 CTC 表型的乳腺癌检测方法，这些标志物组合在一起可用于诊断和监测治疗。
