Circulating CEA ‐positive and EpCAM‐negative tumor cells might be a predictive biomarker for recurrence in patients with gastric cancer

This study aims to clarify the significance of epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAMs) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) expressing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with gastric cancer. The number of EpCAM −CEA+ cells was significantly associated with recurrence free survival. Thus, we conclude that CEA‐positive CTCs will be a clinically beneficial biomarker in patients with gastric cancer. AbstractIt has been reported that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are beneficial for predicting tumor stage or treatment response. Although epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAMs) and cytokeratin (CK) have been often used for the identification of CTCs, other tumor markers have not been fully investigated as detecting tools for CTCs. Thus, this study aims to clarify the significance of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA, CD66e) ‐positive CTCs in patients with gastric cancer. A total of 150 patients with gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. The mononuclear fraction of peripheral blood was enriched by Ficoll. The number of cells was enumerated depending on the positivity of EpCAM and CEA or CK by flow cytometry. The association of these cells with clinicopathologic characteristics was investigated. The mean age was 70 (range 28–92). The macroscopic type of gastric cancer was classified as 0/1/2/3/4/5 in 59/11/22/38/16/4 patients, respectively. Seventy‐one patients (47.3%) were diagnosed with intestinal‐t ype cancer, while 76 patients (50.7%) were diagnosed wit...
Source: Cancer Medicine - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL RESEARCH Source Type: research