Author(s)

Yang GAO, Bo SUN, Xixiong Kang

Corresponding Author

Yang GAO

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical diagnostic value of mesenchymal circulating tumor cell (MCTC) detection to assist the minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring and prognosis assessment of patients with colorectal cancer. Methods The peripheral blood test samples of 147 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent surgical treatment from January 2018 to December 2019 were collected. CytoSorter® microfluidic nanochip method combined with MCTC-specific antibody enrichment detection reagents were used to analyze the auxiliary MCTC detection after surgery. The feasibility of evaluating the prognosis of colorectal cancer. Results 147 cases of colorectal cancer peripheral blood MCTC detection results showed that the detection rate of MCTC was 72.8% (107/147). The postoperative MCTC level has no significant correlation with the patient's gender (P=0.3177), age (P=0.4983), primary tumor location (P=0.0715), and tumor invasion depth (P=0.4174), but it has a significant correlation with the patient's lymph node metastasis (P<0.0001) and clinicopathological stage (P<0.0001). There was a significant difference in the number of MCTCs between colorectal cancer patients with distant metastasis and colorectal cancer without distant metastasis (P<0.0001). Patients with a higher number of MCTCs had a higher risk of distant metastasis after surgery. The postoperative MCTC level can evaluate the progression-free survival and overall survival of patients with colorectal cancer. The progression-free survival (P<0.0001) and overall survival (P <0.0001) of patients with MCTC≥3/4mL are significantly shorter than MCTC 3/4mL Of colorectal cancer patients. Conclusion The detection of mesenchymal CTC in patients with colorectal cancer can assist in prognostic evaluation, and the presence of MCTC may indicate the higher risk of tumor metastasis.

KEYWORDS

Mesenchymal circulating tumor cells, Colorectal cancer, Minimal residual disease, Mrd, Prognostic