Synergistic Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Reveals Prognostic Signatures in Pilot Study of Treatment-Naïve Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is typically diagnosed at late stages and has one of the lowest five-year survival rates of all malignancies. In this pilot study, we identify signatures related to survival and treatment response found in circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Patients with poor survival had increased mutant KRAS expression and deregulation of connected pathways such as PI3K-AKT and MAPK signaling. Further, in a subset of these patients, expression patterns of gemcitabine resistance mechanisms were observed, even prior to initiating treatment. This work highlights the need for identifying patients with these resistance profiles and designing treatment regimens to circumvent these mechanisms.

Keywords

• CTC
• liquid biopsy
• pancreatic cancer
• mutant KRAS
• gene expression profiling