Prognostic significance of circulating and disseminated tumor cells in breast cancer patients before and after adjuvant chemotherapy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2Hematology, Oncology Ward of Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

3 Hematology, Oncology Ward of Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

4 Department of Hematology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

5 Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

10.22074/cellj.2024.2017486.1466

Abstract

Objective: Despite the advances in treatment, breast cancer (BC) remains a major cause of death in women. This experimental study aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in paired peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) samples obtained both before and after adjuvant chemotherapy from patients with operable BC.

Materials and methods: From 160 patients with primary BC, we collected 160 PB and BM samples before and we could be able to collect PB and BM samples from 100 of them after adjuvant chemotherapy. The expression level of cytokeratin 19 (CK19), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), mammaglobin 1 (MGB1), mucin 2 (MUC2) and trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) mRNAs in the PB/BM samples were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR.

Results: Multivariate Cox regression analyses indicated that the detection of CK19 mRNA-positive CTCs/DTCs either before or after adjuvant chemotherapy was an independent factor for prognosis associated with a decreased disease-free survival (DFS). Patients whose tumor cells were concurrently detected in both the PB and BM as well as in patients with persistent tumor cells in the PB and/or BM after therapy had a worse outcome when compared to those with tumor cells detected in one or neither of the compartments.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the detection of CK19 mRNA-positive CTCs/DTCs either before or after adjuvant chemotherapy is an independent predictor of DFS in operable BC patients.

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Cell Journal (Yakhteh)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 May 2024

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