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Updated: May 26, 2026
06:31
Studying the Epithelial Effects of Intestinal Inflammation In Vitro on Established Murine Colonoids
Published on: June 2, 2023
Circulating epithelial cells in patients with benign colon diseases
Klaus Pantel1, Eric Denève, David Nocca
1Department of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Clinical Chemistry
|December 30, 2011
Summary
Benign colon diseases can lead to detectable circulating epithelial cells using current cancer tests. Further research is needed to understand these cells and improve cancer diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Cell Biology
- Medical Diagnostics
Background:
- Circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection is crucial for cancer staging and monitoring.
- Existing CTC assays often target epithelial markers (cytokeratins, EpCAM) present on both normal and malignant epithelial cells.
- Leukocyte markers (e.g., CD45) are typically used to distinguish CTCs from blood cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence of detectable circulating epithelial cells in patients with benign colon diseases.
- To compare the performance of two distinct CTC assays in this patient population.
Main Methods:
- Peripheral blood from 53 patients with benign colon diseases was analyzed.
- Two assays were used: epithelial immunospot (EPISPOT) assay (detecting CK19-releasing CTCs after leukocyte depletion) and CellSearch system (EpCAM-based enrichment).
- Samples from healthy volunteers served as controls.
Main Results:
- Both CellSearch (11.3%) and CK19-EPISPOT (18.9%) assays detected "tumor cell" events in patients with benign colon diseases.
- No positive events were found in healthy volunteers.
- Positive events were most common in patients with diverticulosis and Crohn disease and lacked CD45 expression.
Conclusions:
- Patients with benign inflammatory colon diseases may possess viable circulating epithelial cells detectable by current CTC assays.
- This highlights the need for further molecular characterization of these cells.
- Findings have significant implications for the clinical interpretation and application of CTC testing.
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