Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detection and isolation in different subtypes of early-stage breast cancer patients from Bangladesh.
Authors: Ahmed Shakera , Bharde Atul , Hossain Muhammad Mosaraf , Parial Ramendu , Nayeema Nusrat Jahan , Das Manisha , Rahman Mizanur , Mohammod Noman Abu Shadat , Alam S.M. Sabbir , Gosavi Sayali , Garbhe Meghana , Aland Gourishankar , Jayant Sreeja , Khandare Jayant 
Published: June 2023

e12529

Background: Breast cancer is a highly heterogeneous pathophysiology characterized by poor outcomes. Due to the increasing incidence and disease progression rates and undefined relapse periods, reliable disease monitoring is a challenge and has remained an unmet need. Advancements in liquid biopsy have significantly enhanced our understanding of clinical oncology. CTC-based liquid biopsy is emerging as a reliable prognostic tool to predict various clinical indicators. Although extensively investigated in metastatic breast cancers, little is known about CTCs in early-stage breast cancers. CTCs with respect to different molecular subtypes of breast cancer in early-stage breast cancer patients is evaluated. Methods: In this prospective clinical trial (CMC 59.27.0000.013.19 PG.009.2022/262) 40 early-stage patients with luminal (A +B, 33.33%), HER 2 positive (12.8%), triple-negative (12.8%) and undetermined (41.07%) subtype were recruited. CTCs were isolated in 1.5 ml blood using the Drug Controller General of India approved OncoDiscover CTC test. This platform contains affinity-based magnetic nanoparticles to mediate EpCAM-based CTC isolation. CTCs were detected as CK18+, DAPI+, and CD45- cells using a fluorescence detection-based automated digital imaging platform. Results: CTCs were detected in 60 % of patients with a mean CTC count of 1 cell / 1.5ml blood. Among total positive patients, the luminal subtype was the least positive (46 %), followed by TNBC (60 %) and undetermined (62.5 %) subgroup, while all HER2-positive patients showed the presence of CTCs. Besides individual cells, CTC clusters were detected in 12.5 % of patients and they were equally distributed in luminal and HER2-positive subpopulations. When analyzed on the scale of tumor grade, grade I patients did not show the presence of CTC, while 58.33 % of grade II patients had ≥ 1 CTC. All grade III patients showed the presence of ≥ 1 CTC. CTC count was high among CTC-positive grade II patients (average 2 CTCs) and correlated well with the presence of CTC clusters in these patients. Patients who had surgical intervention had a low CTC burden compared to patients who did not have a surgical resection. 75 % of treatment naïve patients showed the presence of CTC while 58 % of patients receiving chemotherapy alone showed the presence of 1 CTC. 50 % of patients who had surgery followed by CT+RT showed the presence of 1 CTC. Conclusions: The presence of CTCs may suggest for biological progression of disease in early-stage BC patients. CTC detected in all HER2-positive patients suggested the high shedding nature of these tumors, which correlates well with their reported migratory tendency. The presence of CTCs did not show a clear correlation with the treatment regimen. However, this data is based on a single time point and needs longitudinal correlation with CTC on a larger sample size. Clinical trial information: 59.27.0000.013.19 PG.009.2022/262 .