Hiroe Tada1, Hideyuki Takahashi1, Shota Ida1, Yurino Nagata1, Kazuaki Chikamatsu2. 1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan. 2. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan tikamatu@gunma-u.ac.jp.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: We aimed to elucidate the clinical implication of the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: CTCs isolated from 44 patients with non-recurrent/metastatic HNSCC and 42 with recurrent/metastatic (R/M) HNSCC were classified into four epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) statuses based on the expression of epithelial (keratin 19) and mesenchymal (vimentin) markers and the relationships between EMT status in CTCs and clinical factors were investigated. RESULTS: E+M- CTC phenotype was more frequent in patients without recurrence/metastasis (p=0.0468) and was also more frequent in those with a complete response (p=0.0346). The E+M+ phenotype constituted the major proportion of the CTCs detected in patients with R/M HNSCC (p=0.0374). CONCLUSION: CTCs may play unique roles at various stages of metastasis through transitioning from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes. Copyright
BACKGROUND/AIM: We aimed to elucidate the clinical implication of the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: CTCs isolated from 44 patients with non-recurrent/metastatic HNSCC and 42 with recurrent/metastatic (R/M) HNSCC were classified into four epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) statuses based on the expression of epithelial (keratin 19) and mesenchymal (vimentin) markers and the relationships between EMT status in CTCs and clinical factors were investigated. RESULTS: E+M- CTC phenotype was more frequent in patients without recurrence/metastasis (p=0.0468) and was also more frequent in those with a complete response (p=0.0346). The E+M+ phenotype constituted the major proportion of the CTCs detected in patients with R/M HNSCC (p=0.0374). CONCLUSION: CTCs may play unique roles at various stages of metastasis through transitioning from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes. Copyright
Authors: Vasudha Mishra; Alka Singh; Xiangying Chen; Ari J Rosenberg; Alexander T Pearson; Alex Zhavoronkov; Peter A Savage; Mark W Lingen; Nishant Agrawal; Evgeny Izumchenko Journal: Br J Cancer Date: 2021-12-07 Impact factor: 7.640