Circulating tumor cells: a promising marker in predicting tumor response after preoperative chemo-radiation therapy for rectal cancer

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in assessing and predicting of pathological response to preoperative CRT of rectal cancer.

Methods

Sixty-seven patients (average age: 55; male/female: 35/32) with T3-4 and/or N+ rectal cancer were enrolled. All patients received preoperative CRT followed by radical surgery after 6-8 weeks. Blood samples were obtained from patients before and after CRT. CTCs were detected by use of a high-performance size-based micro-fluidic device, which exploited numerous filtered micro-channels in it to enrich the large-sized target tumor cells from whole blood. The pathological results after surgery was evaluated according to tumor regression grade (TRG) classification. The association between CTC counts and the pathological tumor response was analyzed.

Results

CTC counts before CRT were significantly higher than those after CRT (41.24 ± 18.45/5mL vs. 9.7 ± 8.9/5mL, P 

Conclusions

Circulating tumor cells are promising markers to predict tumor response after preoperative CRT for rectal cancer.

Clinical trial identification

Legal entity responsible for the study

Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center

Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China

Disclosure

W. Sun, Z. Zhang: I identify that no financial interst in products or processes involved in their research.