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Updated: May 28, 2025
A Three-dimensional Model of Spheroids to Study Colon Cancer Stem Cells
Published on: January 22, 2021
Low Phosphatidylserine+ Cells Within the CD34+/CD45dim/CD117(c-kit)+ Subpopulation Are Associated with Poor Outcomes
Davide Brocco1,2, Pasquale Simeone2,3, Pietro Di Marino4
1Department of Medical, Oral & Biotechnological Sciences, University "G. D'Annunzio", 66100 Chieti, Italy.
Background:
Colorectal cancer is among the most prevalent causes of tumor-related deaths worldwide. Antiangiogenic therapy represents a cornerstone of metastatic CRC treatment, and biomarkers are advocated for the optimization of this therapeutic strategy.
Methods:
In this observational prospective study, we employed an optimized flow cytometry protocol to investigate the prognostic and predictive potential of blood circulating endothelial cells (CECs), circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEPCs), and related subsets in a cohort of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (n = 40).
Results:
Computational FC analysis revealed a differential enrichment of blood cell clusters with a CD34+/CD45dim/CD117(c-kit)+ phenotype between responders and non-responders both to antiangiogenic and non-antiangiogenic treatments. Intriguingly, our results show that a high percentage of annexin V-negative cells in a putative circulating progenitor population with a CD34+/CD45dim/CD117+ phenotype was correlated with a reduced response to systemic anticancer treatments (p = 0.015) and worse overall survival (log-rank p = 0.03). In addition, we observed increased blood concentrations of CD34+/CD45dim/CD117+/annexin V- cells in patients with a higher number of metastatic sites (p = 0.03).
Conclusions:
Overall, these findings hold promise for the identification of novel circulating biomarkers to develop more personalized treatment approaches in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
