The Relationship Between Circulating Tumor Cells And Clinical Characteristics As Well As Survival Of Patients With Colorectal Cancer

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between circulating tumor cell(CTC)and mesenchymal circulating tumor cell(M-CTC)with the clinical characteristics and survival of patients with colorectal cancer(CRC).Methods The Can Patrol(TM) CTC detection system was used to detect the CTC counts of 68 patients with CRC,who were enrolled in our center from March 2016 to March 2017,and to evaluate the expression of EMT phenotypes in CTC of these patients.We analyzed the relationship between CTC as well M-CTC and tumor stage,tumor location,tumor size,metastasis,tumor differentiation,carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA)and cancer antigen 19-9(CA 19-9),and their impact on progression-free survival(PFS)and overall survival(OS).Results CTCs were detected in 85.3%(58/68)of the CRC patients,and CTC displaying mesenchymal phenotype(M-CTC)were detected in 75.0%(51/68)of CRC patients.Both CTC count and M-CTC count were found to be significantly correlated with tumor stage.In addition,there is also significant positive correlation between CTC count as well as M-CTC count and preoperative CEA level.The presence of ≥ 6 CTC or ≥ 3 M-CTC per 5 ml blood was significantly associated with poorer PFS and OS in CRC patients.Conclusions CTC and M-CTC are closely related to the prognosis of CRC patients.Both higher CTC count and M-CTC count are predictive factors of poor prognosis for CRC patients.In addition,CTC and M-CTC are potential valuable tumor biomarkers for CRC.