A Novel Ex Vivo System Using 3D Polymer Scaffold to Culture Circulating Tumor Cells from Breast Cancer Patients Exhibits Dynamic E-M Phenotypes.

A Novel Ex Vivo System Using 3D Polymer Scaffold to Culture Circulating Tumor Cells from Breast Cancer Patients Exhibits Dynamic E-M Phenotypes. J Clin Med. 2019 Sep 16;8(9): Authors: De T, Goyal S, Balachander G, Chatterjee K, Kumar P, Babu K G, Rangarajan A Abstract The majority of the cancer-associated deaths is due to metastasis-the spread of tumors to other organs. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are shed from the primary tumor into the circulation, serve as precursors of metastasis. CTCs have now gained much attention as a new prognostic and diagnostic marker, as well as a screening tool for patients with metastatic disease. However, very little is known about the biology of CTCs in cancer metastasis. An increased understanding of CTC biology, their heterogeneity, and interaction with other cells can help towards a better understanding of the metastatic process, as well as identify novel drug targets. Here we present a novel ex vivo 3D system for culturing CTCs from breast cancer patient blood samples using porous poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds. As a proof of principle study, we show that ex vivo culture of 12/16 (75%) advanced stage breast cancer patient blood samples were enriched for CTCs identified as CK+ (cytokeratin positive) and CD45- (CD45 negative) cells. The deposition of extracellular matrix proteins on the PCL scaffolds permitted cellular attachment to these scaffolds. Detection of Ki-67 and bromodeoxyu...
Source: Clin Med Res - Category: Research Authors: Tags: J Clin Med Source Type: research