Background: Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) have been studied as a biomarker for
tumour progression and monitoring therapeutic effects. The CellSearch system is a
semi-automated system that allows standardised analysis of CECs. This study assessed
the clinical implications of CECs determined by the CellSearch system in breast cancer
patients.
Methods: Seventy-six consecutive breast cancer patients (53 operable and 23 metastatic or
recurrent) were enrolled for the study. Thirty-five patients with operable breast cancer
received preoperative chemotherapy with a regimen based on anthracycline and/or taxane.
CECs are defined as CD146+CD105+CD45)DAPI+ cells in the system. CD34 expression was
examined using the additional channel in the system.
Results: A majority (4539 of 5183 cells, 88%) of CECs from patients with operable breast cancer
were CD34-positive. Triple-negative cancers showed higher baseline CEC and CD34+CEC
counts than the other types (P = 0.0387 and 0.0377, respectively). Low baseline CEC and
CD34+CEC counts, and a low CD34 positive rate were associated with pathological complete
response (pCR) of preoperative chemotherapy in patients with primary breast cancer
(P = 0.046, 0.027 and 0.01, respectively). In multivariate analyses, the CD34 positive rate
was significant for pCR (P = 0.021). During preoperative chemotherapy, CEC and CD34+CEC
counts before each cycle of chemotherapy increased with taxane-based regimens
(P = 0.0018 and 0.0008, respectively) but not with anthracycline-based regimens.
Conclusions: Baseline CEC, in particular CD34+CEC, counts and the CD34 positive rate might
be useful for the prediction of treatment response of preoperative chemotherapy in
patients with operable breast cancer.
المشارك في البحث
قسم البحث
سنة البحث
2011
مجلة البحث
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER
عدد البحث
Vo;. 47
تصنيف البحث
1
صفحات البحث
Pp. 2265-2272
ملخص البحث