Abstract
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been implicated as a population of cells that may seed metastasis and venous thromboembolism (VTE), two major causes of mortality in cancer patients. Thus far, existing CTC detection technologies have been unable to reproducibly detect CTC aggregates in order to address what contribution CTC aggregates may make to metastasis or VTE. We report here an enrichment-free immunofluorescence detection method that can reproducibly detect and enumerate homotypic CTC aggregates in patient samples. We identified CTC aggregates in 43% of 86 patient samples. The fraction of CTC aggregation was investigated in blood draws from 24 breast, 14 non-small cell lung, 18 pancreatic, 15 prostate stage IV cancer patients and 15 normal blood donors. Both single CTCs and CTC aggregates were measured to determine whether differences exist in the physical characteristics of these two populations. Cells contained in CTC aggregates had less area and length, on average, than single CTCs. Nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios between single CTCs and CTC aggregates were similar. This detection method may assist future studies in determining which population of cells is more physically likely to contribute to metastasis and VTE.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 016001 |
| Journal | Physical Biology |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
- Structural Biology
Cite this
Characterization of circulating tumor cell aggregates identified in patients with epithelial tumors. / Cho, Edward H.; Wendel, Marco; Luttgen, Madelyn; Yoshioka, Craig; Marrinucci, Dena; Lazar, Daniel; Schram, Ethan; Nieva, Jorge; Bazhenova, Lyudmila; Morgan, Alison; Ko, Andrew H.; Korn, W. Michael; Kolatkar, Anand; Bethel, Kelly; Kuhn, Peter.
In: Physical Biology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 016001, 02.2012.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of circulating tumor cell aggregates identified in patients with epithelial tumors
AU - Cho, Edward H.
AU - Wendel, Marco
AU - Luttgen, Madelyn
AU - Yoshioka, Craig
AU - Marrinucci, Dena
AU - Lazar, Daniel
AU - Schram, Ethan
AU - Nieva, Jorge
AU - Bazhenova, Lyudmila
AU - Morgan, Alison
AU - Ko, Andrew H.
AU - Korn, W. Michael
AU - Kolatkar, Anand
AU - Bethel, Kelly
AU - Kuhn, Peter
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been implicated as a population of cells that may seed metastasis and venous thromboembolism (VTE), two major causes of mortality in cancer patients. Thus far, existing CTC detection technologies have been unable to reproducibly detect CTC aggregates in order to address what contribution CTC aggregates may make to metastasis or VTE. We report here an enrichment-free immunofluorescence detection method that can reproducibly detect and enumerate homotypic CTC aggregates in patient samples. We identified CTC aggregates in 43% of 86 patient samples. The fraction of CTC aggregation was investigated in blood draws from 24 breast, 14 non-small cell lung, 18 pancreatic, 15 prostate stage IV cancer patients and 15 normal blood donors. Both single CTCs and CTC aggregates were measured to determine whether differences exist in the physical characteristics of these two populations. Cells contained in CTC aggregates had less area and length, on average, than single CTCs. Nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios between single CTCs and CTC aggregates were similar. This detection method may assist future studies in determining which population of cells is more physically likely to contribute to metastasis and VTE.
AB - Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been implicated as a population of cells that may seed metastasis and venous thromboembolism (VTE), two major causes of mortality in cancer patients. Thus far, existing CTC detection technologies have been unable to reproducibly detect CTC aggregates in order to address what contribution CTC aggregates may make to metastasis or VTE. We report here an enrichment-free immunofluorescence detection method that can reproducibly detect and enumerate homotypic CTC aggregates in patient samples. We identified CTC aggregates in 43% of 86 patient samples. The fraction of CTC aggregation was investigated in blood draws from 24 breast, 14 non-small cell lung, 18 pancreatic, 15 prostate stage IV cancer patients and 15 normal blood donors. Both single CTCs and CTC aggregates were measured to determine whether differences exist in the physical characteristics of these two populations. Cells contained in CTC aggregates had less area and length, on average, than single CTCs. Nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios between single CTCs and CTC aggregates were similar. This detection method may assist future studies in determining which population of cells is more physically likely to contribute to metastasis and VTE.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856948692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84856948692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1478-3975/9/1/016001
DO - 10.1088/1478-3975/9/1/016001
M3 - Article
C2 - 22306705
AN - SCOPUS:84856948692
VL - 9
JO - Physical Biology
JF - Physical Biology
SN - 1478-3967
IS - 1
M1 - 016001
ER -