Epithelial-mesenchymal transitioned circulating tumor cells capture for detecting tumor progression

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Cell Biology
• Biomarkers

Background:

• Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial for cancer metastasis.
• Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are key indicators of cancer progression and treatment efficacy.
• Identifying specific markers for EMT CTCs is essential for accurate detection and prognosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detect cell-surface vimentin (CSV) on EMT CTCs in epithelial cancer patients.
• To establish CSV as a reliable marker for EMT CTCs across various tumor types.
• To correlate the number of EMT CTCs with therapeutic outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 101 patients with metastatic colon cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy.
• Utilized the 84-1 monoclonal antibody targeting CSV to detect EMT CTCs in blood.
• Characterized isolated EMT CTCs using EMT-specific markers, FISH, and single-cell mutation analysis.

Main Results:

• CSV was exclusively detected on EMT CTCs, showing high specificity and sensitivity.
• The 84-1 antibody successfully detected and enumerated EMT CTCs from various epithelial cancers.
• A threshold of ≥5 EMT CTCs indicated progressive disease, while <5 EMT CTCs correlated with therapeutic response.

Conclusions:

• The number of detected EMT CTCs is a significant predictor of therapeutic outcome.
• CSV is validated as a universal marker for EMT CTCs in diverse epithelial cancers.
• This finding supports the development of new CTC detection technologies and research into EMT regulation.