RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 EpCAM-positive circulating cells in lung cancer patients
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP P4171
VO 40
IS Suppl 56
A1 Joanna Domagala-Kulawik
A1 Tomasz Skirecki
A1 Grazyna Hoser
YR 2012
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P4171.abstract
AB Lung cancer is a very aggressive neoplasm characterized by high metastatic potential which is the main cause of therapeutic failures. The exact cell of origin of metastasis is not known, however several markers for them have been proposed. Recently, the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) has been identified as an additional molecule to enrich for circulating tumor cells (CTCs).The aim of this study was to detect CTCs by flow cytometry applying anti-EpCAM antibody and to investigate its clinical significance.Forty-one patients diagnosed with lung cancer were enrolled into this study. Patients did not receive anticancer treatment prior to the study. The cells bearing EpCAM were detected in tumor tissue, lung tissue and peripheral blood by flow cytometry with anti-EpCAM FITC antibody, analyzed in FACSCantoII, BD flow cytometer.EpCAM+ cells were detected in the tumor tissue with higher proportion than in adjacent lung parenchyma and with higher proportion in adenocarcinoma (AC) than in squamous cell (SCC) type. The median proportion of circulating EpCAM+ cells was 0.0026% (260 per mL). No difference was found between SCLC and NSCLC. The fraction of EpCAM+ cells was higher in the patients with AD than SCC (0.0130 vs 0.0027%), was significantly lower in the blood of patients with advanced disease (IIIB,IV) when compared with lower stages (I-IIIA) (0.0018 vs 0.0067%, 230 vs 504 cells per mL) and was significantly lower in patients with metastases compared to those without metastases (0.0015% vs 0.0046%, p=0.012).Our study confirmed the presence of a rare subpopulation of the CTCs of the EpCAM+ phenotype in lung cancer patients with significant differences related to histological type and stage of the disease.