Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and GALC expression of circulating tumor cells indicate metastasis and poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND:Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a promising biomarker for cancer prognosis and monitoring. Molecular characterizing of CTCs could provide beneficial information on the basis of CTCs counting. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotypes and GALC mRNA expression of CTCs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. METHODS:We analyzed the baseline number, EMT classification, and GALC expression of CTCs in 47 NSCLC patients using CanPatrol platform and RNA in situ hybridization technique. RESULTS:CTCs were detected in 91.5% patients ranging 0-47/5 mL blood. Increased CTCs were associated with advanced tumor stages (6/5 mL) compared with early stages (3.5/5 mL). Patients with effective treatment response presented lower CTCs (3.5/5 mL) than patients with insufficient response (7/5 mL). Epithelial, hybrid and mesenchymal CTCs were detected in 55.4%, 78.7% and 61.7% patients, respectively. Patients with distant metastasis and poor curative outcomes presented higher level of EMT-CTCs. GALC expression was positive in CTCs of 80.6% patients and closely correlated with tumor number and distant metastasis and treatment outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:EMT phenotypes and GALC expression of CTCs are correlated with cancer metastasis and therapeutic outcomes, suggesting them to be potential markers for the prognosis of NSCLC.

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