Detection and clinical significance of perioperative circulating tumor cells in patients with stage Ⅱ to Ⅲ colorectal carcinoma / 中国实用外科杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To detect perioperative circulating tumor cells(CTCs) in patients with colorectal carcinoma and evaluate their clinical significance. METHODS: A total of 69 patients with stage Ⅱ to Ⅲ sporadic primary colorectal cancer were collected from Department of General Surgery,Beijing Friendship Hospital,Capital Medical University from June 2015 to August 2017. All the patients received surgery and no preoperative neoadjuvant therapy. Peripheral blood samples were collected before operation(Pre-OP),on three days post-operation(POD3),and one 14 days post-operation(POD 14). CTCs were detected using density-gradient centrifugation and immunofluorescence staining. Associations of perioperative CTCs with clinicopathological features and tumor recurrence were determined. RESULTS: Average Pre-OP,POD3,and POD14 CTCs were(3.8 ± 0.5) number/3.5 mL,(6.6 ± 1.4) number/3.5 mL,and(3.5 ± 0.5) number/3.5 mL,respectively. There was significant difference between POD3 and POD14 CTCs(P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis suggested that Pre-OP CTCs was significantly associated with POD14 CTCs(r=0.433,P<0.001). Association of POD14 CTCswith TNM stage was found(χ~2=3.916,P=0.048) and there was a trend of association between POD3 CTCs with gender(χ~2=3.857,P=0.050). The followup duration was 15.6(3.5-35.0)months and the recurrence rate of the patients was 10.6%(7/63). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed no significant associations oftumor recurrence with POD3 CTCs(P=0.194) and POD14 CTCs(P=0.269). CONCLUSION: Compared with preoperative CTCs,postoperative CTCs are firstly increased and then decreased. The postoperative CTCs are potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer recurrence but needed to be verified in more studies.