Scientific Reports (Jun 2021)

Circulating tumour cells at baseline and late phase of treatment provide prognostic value in breast cancer

  • Shuyun Pang,
  • Hanjun Li,
  • Shu Xu,
  • Liying Feng,
  • Xueping Ma,
  • Yanan Chu,
  • Bingjie Zou,
  • Shaohua Wang,
  • Guohua Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92876-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract To determine the prognostic value of the timing of circulating breast tumour cell measurement during treatment, peripheral blood from 164 patients with breast disease was collected. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) were enriched by using immunomagnetic nanospheres (IMNs) and were identified by using immunofluorescent staining. The CTC shows nuclear-positive, EpCAM-positive, CK19-positive, and CD45-negative. Patients with CTC positivity (> 19/7.5 mL blood) had shorter progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) than those with negative results (≤ 19/7.5 mL blood) at baseline. Surgery caused an increase in the number and prevalence of CTCs, and the effect disappeared on day 14 after surgery. During adjuvant chemotherapy, CTCs detected before therapy was only correlated with PFS; however, CTCs at the end of adjuvant chemotherapy were correlated with both PFS and OS. The PFS and OS of the CTC-positive group were significantly shorter than those of the CTC-negative group at the end-point follow-up visit. The prognostic value of CTCs at different measurement time points was demonstrated during breast cancer treatment. Surgery and chemotherapy affected the prevalence of CTCs, leading to different prognostic relevance of CTCs at different treatment stages. CTCs detected at baseline or in the late phase of treatment are preferable for prognosis.