Hcor Research Institute, São Paulo 04004-030, Brazil.
Hospital Amaral Carvalho, Jaú 17210-080, Brazil.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Sep 11;25(18):9841. doi: 10.3390/ijms25189841.
Polyploid Giant Cancer Cells (PGCCs) have been recognized as tumor cells that are resistant to anticancer therapies. However, it remains unclear whether their presence in the bloodstream can be consistently detected and utilized as a clinical marker to guide therapeutic anticancer regimens. To address these questions, we conducted a retrospective study involving 228 patients diagnosed with six different types of carcinomas (colon, gastric, NSCLC, breast, anal canal, kidney), with the majority of them (70%) being non-metastatic. Employing a highly sensitive liquid biopsy approach, ISET, and cytopathological readout, we isolated and detected circulating PGCCs in the patients' blood samples. PGCCs were identified in 46 (20.18%) out of 228 patients, including in 14.47% of 152 non-metastatic and 29.85% of 67 metastatic cases. Patients were subsequently monitored for a mean follow up period of 44.74 months (95%CI: 33.39-55.79 months). Remarkably, the presence of circulating PGCCs emerged as a statistically significant indicator of poor overall survival. Our findings suggest that circulating PGCCs hold promise as a reliable prognostic indicator. They underscore the importance of further extensive investigations into the role of circulating PGCCs as a prognostic marker and the development of anti-PGCC therapeutic strategies to improve cancer management and patient survival.
多倍体巨癌细胞（PGCCs）已被认为是对癌症治疗有抗药性的肿瘤细胞。然而，目前尚不清楚它们是否能在血液中持续被检测到，并被用作指导抗癌治疗方案的临床标志物。为了解决这些问题，我们进行了一项回顾性研究，涉及 228 名被诊断为六种不同类型癌症（结肠癌、胃癌、非小细胞肺癌、乳腺癌、肛管癌、肾癌）的患者，其中大多数（70%）是非转移性的。我们采用高度敏感的液体活检方法 ISET 和细胞病理学读数，从患者的血液样本中分离和检测循环 PGCCs。在 228 名患者中，有 46 名（20.18%）患者中检测到 PGCCs，其中 152 名非转移性患者中有 14.47%，67 名转移性患者中有 29.85%。随后，患者被平均随访 44.74 个月（95%CI：33.39-55.79 个月）。值得注意的是，循环 PGCCs 的存在是总生存期不良的统计学显著指标。我们的研究结果表明，循环 PGCCs 是一种可靠的预后指标。它们强调了进一步广泛研究循环 PGCCs 作为预后标志物的重要性，以及开发抗 PGCC 治疗策略以改善癌症管理和患者生存的重要性。
