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Detection of circulating tumor cells is improved by drug-induced antigen up-regulation: preclinical and clinical studies.

Authors :
Bonmassar L
Fossile E
Scoppola A
Graziani G
Prete SP
Formica V
Cappelletti D
De Vecchis L
Cardillo A
Concolino F
D'Atri S
Balduzzi A
Torino F
Caporaso P
Greiner JW
Bonmassar E
Roselli M
Aquino A
Source :
Anticancer research [Anticancer Res] 2010 Nov; Vol. 30 (11), pp. 4721-30.
Publication Year :
2010

Abstract

(51)Cr-prelabelled colon cancer cells (simulating 'circulating tumor cells', CTCs) were added to human peripheral blood and exposed to staurosporine (ST) to increase carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) expression. CTCs were captured with immunomagnetic beads coated with Ber-EP4 monoclonal antibody, recognizing the common epithelial antigen present in the majority of cancer cells of epithelial origin, with capture efficiency of more than 80%. Moreover, ST treatment increased CEA expression without compromising Ber-EP4 capture efficiency. In a pilot clinical study on 37 patients, CTCs were captured using Ber-EP4 beads, and recognized by RT-PCR set for CEA or cytokeratin-19 (CK) mRNA detection. The results showed that: (a) the percentage of CEA-positive CTCs (CTC(CEA), 54.1%) was lower than that of CK-positive CTCs (CTC(CK), 70.3%); (b) in vitro ST treatment converted a significant number of CTC(CEA)-negative into CTC(CEA)-positive cases. Therefore, immunomagnetic capture combined with exposure to ST provides a feasible and sensitive technique for the detection of functionally-active CTCs responsive to ST-mediated CEA up-regulation.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1791-7530
Volume :
30
Issue :
11
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Anticancer research
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
21115931