Cha Jiwon, Cho Hyungseok, Chung Jae-Seung, Park Joon Seong, Han Ki-Ho
Department of Nanoscience and Engineering, Center for Nano Manufacturing, Inje University, Gimhae 50834, Republic of Korea.
Department of Urology, Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inje University, Busan 48108, Republic of Korea.
Cancers (Basel). 2023 May 18;15(10):2825. doi: 10.3390/cancers15102825.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) display antigenic heterogeneity between epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes. However, most current CTC isolation methods rely on EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) antibodies. This study introduces a more efficient CTC isolation technique utilizing both EpCAM and vimentin (mesenchymal cell marker) antibodies, alongside a lateral magnetophoretic microseparator. The effectiveness of this approach was assessed by isolating CTCs from prostate ( = 17) and pancreatic ( = 5) cancer patients using EpCAM alone, vimentin alone, and both antibodies together. Prostate cancer patients showed an average of 13.29, 11.13, and 27.95 CTCs/mL isolated using EpCAM alone, vimentin alone, and both antibodies, respectively. For pancreatic cancer patients, the averages were 1.50, 3.44, and 10.82 CTCs/mL with EpCAM alone, vimentin alone, and both antibodies, respectively. Combining antibodies more than doubled CTC isolation compared to single antibodies. Interestingly, EpCAM antibodies were more effective for localized prostate cancer, while vimentin antibodies excelled in metastatic prostate cancer isolation. Moreover, vimentin antibodies outperformed EpCAM antibodies for all pancreatic cancer patients. These results highlight that using both epithelial and mesenchymal antibodies with the lateral magnetophoretic microseparator significantly enhances CTC isolation efficiency, and that antibody choice may vary depending on cancer type and stage.
循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）在上皮和间充质表型之间表现出抗原异质性。然而，目前大多数CTCs分离方法依赖于上皮细胞粘附分子（EpCAM）抗体。本研究引入了一种更有效的CTCs分离技术，该技术利用EpCAM和波形蛋白（间充质细胞标志物）抗体，以及横向磁泳微分离器。通过分别使用单独的EpCAM、单独的波形蛋白以及两种抗体一起从前列腺癌患者（n = 17）和胰腺癌患者（n = 5）中分离CTCs，评估了该方法的有效性。前列腺癌患者使用单独的EpCAM、单独的波形蛋白以及两种抗体分离出的CTCs平均数量分别为每毫升13.29个、11.13个和27.95个。对于胰腺癌患者，使用单独的EpCAM、单独的波形蛋白以及两种抗体时，每毫升CTCs的平均值分别为1.50个、3.44个和10.82个。与单一抗体相比，联合使用抗体使CTCs分离数量增加了一倍多。有趣的是，EpCAM抗体对局限性前列腺癌更有效，而波形蛋白抗体在转移性前列腺癌分离方面表现出色。此外，对于所有胰腺癌患者，波形蛋白抗体的表现优于EpCAM抗体。这些结果表明，将上皮和间充质抗体与横向磁泳微分离器结合使用可显著提高CTCs分离效率，并且抗体的选择可能因癌症类型和阶段而异。
