Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients With Early Lung Cancer
Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) may reveal heterogeneous patterns in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the results of the TRACERx study. These findings were presented by lead author Francesca Chemi, PhD, of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (Abstract 5601-4).
“The combined tumour and CTC data show that single CTC analysis provides an additional layer of complexity with a valuable new perspective on tumour heterogeneity and early dissemination in NSCLC,” Dr. Chemi and colleagues concluded.
In this pilot study, the researchers collected blood from 163 patients at surgery from the tumor draining pulmonary vein and from the peripheral vein in longitudinal samples and used whole-genome analysis. CTC genomic profiles were compared with corresponding spatially separated tumor sections obtained at surgery.
Dr. Chemi and colleagues confirmed the presence of pulmonary vein CellSearch CTCs appeared to be a poor prognostic indicator. They observed three types of pulmonary CellSearch-CTC candidates: type 1, which shares clear copy number changes with both tumor and other CellSearch-CTCs; type 2, detected copy number changes were detected but were not shared with the tumor; and type 3, where no copy number changes were detected.
Using whole-exome sequencing in CTCs and matching excised tumor regions also identified common genetic alterations shared by CTCs and the tumor, as well as private genetic changes found in CTCs alone.
