Circulating Tumor Cells Enumerated by a Centrifugal Microfluidic Device as a Predictive Marker for Monitoring Ovarian Cancer Treatment: A Pilot Study

• Published in: Diagnostics (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 249
• Main Authors: Kim, Hyera, Lim, Minji, Kim, Jin Young, Shin, So-Jin, Cho, Yoon-Kyoung, Cho, Chi Heum
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.04.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomarkers; CA125; Cell adhesion & migration; centrifugal microfluidic device; Chemotherapy; circulating tumor cells; Experiments; FDA approval; fluid-assisted separation technology; Histology; Medical prognosis; Ovarian cancer; Patients; Surgery; Womens health; United States > US; centrifugal microfluidic device; CA125; circulating tumor cells; ovarian cancer; fluid-assisted separation technology
• ISSN: 2075-4418; 2075-4418
• DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics10040249

We investigated the size-based isolation and enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using a centrifugal microfluidic device equipped with a fluid-assisted separation technology (FAST) disc. We further assessed the correlations among CTCs, cancer antigen-125 (CA125) levels, and clinical course of the disease in a prospective analysis of 47 serial blood samples collected at multiple time-points from 13 ovarian cancer patients. CTCs were isolated from whole blood using the FAST disc and were classified as epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)/cytokeratin+, CD45-, and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)+. Mean CTC count at baseline was 20.2; 84.62% of patients had more than one CTC at baseline and had decreased CTCs counts after surgery and chemotherapy. The CTC counts in eight patients with complete responses were <3. CTC counts were correlated with CA125 levels in three patients without recurrence; they were elevated in three patients with recurrence and normal CA125 concentrations. CTC counts and CA125 levels showed high concordance with directional changes (increasing 71.4%; non-increasing 75.0%). CTC counts showed higher associations with clinical status, sensitivity (100.0% vs. 60.0%), positive predictive value (55.6% vs. 42.9%), and negative predictive value (100.0% vs. 87.5%) than CA125 levels. CTC counts were better associated with treatment response and recurrence than CA125 levels.