Changes of circulating tumor cells in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carci-noma patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the changes of circulating tumor cells in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma pa-tients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The effect of these alterations on the patients’prognosis was also analyzed. Meth-odsCirculating tumor cells were detected by immunomagnetic enrichment and fluorescence in 48 cases of locally advanced esopha-geal carcinoma patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The dynamic changes of circulating tumor cells were compared between pre-and post-chemoradiotherapy. Moreover, the association of these changes with the clinical characteristics and two-year survival rate were analyzed. Results:The positive rate of circulating tumor cells was closely associated with the T stage, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage (P<0.05), and the positive rates in pre-and post-chemoradiotherapy were 52.1%(25/48) and 20.8%(10/48), respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the positive rate of circulating tumor cells predicted an adverse two-year survival rate in both pre-and post-chemoradiotherapy (P<0.05). Cox regression analysis showed that the clinical stage and circulating tumor cells after concurrent chemoradiotherapy were independent prognostic factors in the patients with esophageal carcinoma. Conclusion:Circulating tumor cells can reflect the disease progression in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer. These cells can also predict the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients treated with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy.