Comparison of circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection rates with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cell surface vimentin (CSV) antibodies in different solid tumors: a retrospective study

Abstract

Purpose Status of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) varies from tumors to tumors. Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cell surface vimentin (CSV) are the most common used targets for isolating epithelial and mesenchymal CTCs, respectively. This study aimed to identify a suitable CTC capturing antibody for CTC enrichment in each solid tumor by comparing CTC detection rates with EpCAM and CSV antibodies in different solid tumors. Methods Treatment-naive patients with confirmed cancer diagnosis and healthy people who have performed CTC detection between April 2017 and May 2018 were included in this study. CTC detection was performed with CytoSorter® CTC system using either EpCAM or CSV antibody. In total, 853 CTC results from 690 cancer patients and 72 healthy people were collected for analysis. The performance of CTC capturing antibody was determined by the CTC detection rate. Results EpCAM has the highest CTC detection rate of 84.09% in CRC, followed by BCa (78.32%). CTC detection rates with EpCAM antibody are less than 40% in HCC (25%), PDAC (32.5%) and OC (33.33%). CSV has the highest CTC detection rate of 90% in sarcoma, followed by BC (85.71%), UC (84.62%), OC (83.33%) and BCa (81.82%). CTC detection rates with CSV antibody are over 60% in all 14 solid tumors. Except for CRC, CSV has better performances than EpCAM in most solid tumors regarding the CTC detection rates. Conclusion EpCAM can be used as a target to isolate CTCs in CRC, LC, GC, BCa, EC, HNSCC, CC and PCa, especially in CRC, while CSV can be used in most solid tumors for isolating CTCs.

PD-L1 expression on circulating tumor cells can be a predictive biomarker to PD-1 inhibitors combined with radiotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

“…In our study, we performed multiple assessments on the PD-L1 expression on CTCs of HCC patients treated with triple therapy using the CytoSorter™ BioScanner system. The sensitivity and specificity of this approach were clinically validated in different solid cancers including HCC, breast cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer, with 61.9%-95.4% sensitivity and 76.6%-91.3% specificity ( 27 – 30 ). Our data showed that HCC patients with < 2 PD-L1 + CTCs were related to a better OS and ORR than those with ≥ 2 PD-L1 + CTCs.…”

The Detection of Stem-Like Circulating Tumor Cells Could Increase the Clinical Applicability of Liquid Biopsy in Ovarian Cancer

“…However, N-cadherin-positive cells were also present in the blood of the control group, resulting in a high probability of false positive results. Another study addressed the detection of CTCs using the mesenchymal marker vimentin [ 32 ] and also detected much higher counts of mesenchymal CTCs (defined as CD45-DAPI+vimentin+) than epithelial CTCs (EpCAM+). The authors emphasized that the source of vimentin in the blood can be leukocytes, since this protein is a component of their cytoskeleton.…”

Vimentin-Positive Circulating Tumor Cells as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Patients with Biliary Tract Cancer

“…Since only gentle pressure was used, cells of various sizes were captured on the membrane, thus facilitating the counting of intact CTCs and allowing for the collection of a large number of tumor cells with high viability. Using vimentin to identify cells in the EMT process increased CTC counts [ 18 , 19 ]. In our study, high counts of CTCs, especially V-CTCs, were found even in patients with BBDs, indicating that the EMT process may also occur in BBDs.…”