OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an immunomagnetic/real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay and assess its clinical value for the molecular detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood of pancreatic cancer patients. METHODS: The presence of CTCs was evaluated in 34 pancreatic cancer patients before systemic therapy and in 40 healthy controls, through immunomagnetic enrichment, using the antibodies BM7 and VU1D9 [targeting mucin 1 and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), respectively], followed by real-time RT-PCR analysis of the genes KRT19, MUC1, EPCAM, CEACAM5 and BIRC5. RESULTS: The developed assay showed high specificity, as none of the healthy controls were found to be positive for the multimarker gene panel. CTCs were detected in 47.1% of the pancreatic cancer patients before the beginning of systemic treatment. Shorter median progression-free survival (PFS) was observed for patients who had at least one detectable tumor-associated transcript, compared with patients who were CTC negative. Median PFS time was 66.0 days [95% confidence interval (CI) 44.8-87.2] for patients with baseline CTC positivity and 138.0 days (95% CI 124.1-151.9) for CTC-negative patients (p = 0.01, log-rank test). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that in addition to the current prognostic methods, CTC analysis represents a potential complementary tool for prediction of outcome in pancreatic cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an immunomagnetic/real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay and assess its clinical value for the molecular detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood of pancreatic cancerpatients. METHODS: The presence of CTCs was evaluated in 34 pancreatic cancerpatients before systemic therapy and in 40 healthy controls, through immunomagnetic enrichment, using the antibodies BM7 and VU1D9 [targeting mucin 1 and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), respectively], followed by real-time RT-PCR analysis of the genes KRT19, MUC1, EPCAM, CEACAM5 and BIRC5. RESULTS: The developed assay showed high specificity, as none of the healthy controls were found to be positive for the multimarker gene panel. CTCs were detected in 47.1% of the pancreatic cancerpatients before the beginning of systemic treatment. Shorter median progression-free survival (PFS) was observed for patients who had at least one detectable tumor-associated transcript, compared with patients who were CTC negative. Median PFS time was 66.0 days [95% confidence interval (CI) 44.8-87.2] for patients with baseline CTC positivity and 138.0 days (95% CI 124.1-151.9) for CTC-negative patients (p = 0.01, log-rank test). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that in addition to the current prognostic methods, CTC analysis represents a potential complementary tool for prediction of outcome in pancreatic cancerpatients.
Authors: Katherine E Poruk; Vicente Valero; Tyler Saunders; Amanda L Blackford; James F Griffin; Justin Poling; Ralph H Hruban; Robert A Anders; Joseph Herman; Lei Zheng; Zeshaan A Rasheed; Daniel A Laheru; Nita Ahuja; Matthew J Weiss; John L Cameron; Michael Goggins; Christine A Iacobuzio-Donahue; Laura D Wood; Christopher L Wolfgang Journal: Ann Surg Date: 2016-12 Impact factor: 12.969