Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition phenotype of circulating tumor cells is associated with distant metastasis in patients with NSCLC

  • Authors:
    • Xiaochen Zhang
    • Liyuan Wei
    • Jun Li
    • Jing Zheng
    • Shirong Zhang
    • Jianying Zhou
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: November 21, 2018     https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2018.9684
  • Pages: 601-608
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Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are closely associated with cancer metastasis in preclinical models and patients with cancer. However, to the best of the authors knowledge, it remains unknown which type of CTCs may serve the key role in cancer metastasis. The present study investigated the association between the epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype of CTCs from the peripheral blood and distant metastasis in patients with non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Expression of EMT markers in CTCs from a cohort of patients was detected using Canpatrol™ CTC assays. A total of 110 patients (85 patients with NSCLC and 25 patients with benign diseases) were recruited. Among the 110 patients, 88 (80.0%) were characterized as CTC positive with EMT markers. Receiver operating characteristic curves revealed that E+/M+ CTCs exhibited the highest area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.876 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.805‑0.948; P<0.001) in distinguishing between patients with NSCLC and benign pulmonary diseases, and M+ CTCs had the highest AUC value of 0.723 (95% CI, 0.612‑0.833; P<0.001) in differentiating patients with NSCLC with distant metastasis from those with non‑distant metastasis. The results indicate the potential predictive value of distant metastasis of the EMT phenotype of CTCs in the peripheral blood of patients with NSCLC.
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January-2019
Volume 19 Issue 1

Print ISSN: 1791-2997
Online ISSN:1791-3004

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Spandidos Publications style
Zhang X, Wei L, Li J, Zheng J, Zhang S and Zhou J: Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition phenotype of circulating tumor cells is associated with distant metastasis in patients with NSCLC. Mol Med Rep 19: 601-608, 2019.
APA
Zhang, X., Wei, L., Li, J., Zheng, J., Zhang, S., & Zhou, J. (2019). Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition phenotype of circulating tumor cells is associated with distant metastasis in patients with NSCLC. Molecular Medicine Reports, 19, 601-608. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2018.9684
MLA
Zhang, X., Wei, L., Li, J., Zheng, J., Zhang, S., Zhou, J."Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition phenotype of circulating tumor cells is associated with distant metastasis in patients with NSCLC". Molecular Medicine Reports 19.1 (2019): 601-608.
Chicago
Zhang, X., Wei, L., Li, J., Zheng, J., Zhang, S., Zhou, J."Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition phenotype of circulating tumor cells is associated with distant metastasis in patients with NSCLC". Molecular Medicine Reports 19, no. 1 (2019): 601-608. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2018.9684