Synergistic diagnostic value of circulating tumor cells and tumor markers CEA/CA19-9 in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Circulation tumor cells (CTCs) play a crucial role in cancer spread and have a strong correlation with cancer progression. Previous works of research have shown that the number of CTCs can be used to predict the recurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: In this study, we used the Cyttel method to isolate and detect CTCs, and analyzed their correlation with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) levels. RESULTS: We found that the amount and positive (CTC number ≥2 in 3.2 mL peripheral blood) rate of CTCs were higher in peripheral blood (PB) of patients in stage III/IV than that of patients in stage I/II, suggesting the number of CTCs in CRC patients may have a higher correlation with metastasis. Furthermore, the number of CTCs was correlated to CEA and CA19-9 levels in individuals with all stages of CRC, and all of them predicted a worse prognosis and higher recurrence rate. Notably, triple positive (CTCs ≥ 2, CEA ≥ 5 ng/mL, CA19-9 ≥ 37 U/mL in PB) leads to the worst outcome indicated by overall survival and recurrence rate. CONCLUSION: Taken together, this study first revealed that a triple combination of CTCs, which were detected by the Cyttel method but not other approaches, CEA and CA19-9 is a promising prognostic marker on the recurrence of colorectal cancer and overall survival in clinic practice.

Long-term low-dose ionizing radiation induced chromosome-aberration-specific metabolic phenotype changes in radiation workers.

Long-term low-dose ionizing radiation (LLIR) widely exists in human life and has been confirmed to have potential pathogenic effects on cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, it is technically and ethically unfeasible to explore LLIR-induced phenotypic changes in the human cohort, leading to slow progress in revealing the pathogenesis of LLIR. In this work, we recruited 32 radiation workers and 18 healthy non-radiation workers from the same city with the same eating habits for radiation damage evaluation and metabolomics profiling. It was found that clear metabolic phenotypic differences existed between LLIR and non-LLIR exposed participants. Moreover, LLIR exposed workers can be further divided into two types of metabolic phenotypes, corresponding to high and low damage types respectively. 3-hydroxypropanoate and glycolaldehyde were identified as sensitive indicators to radiation damage, which specific response to the chromosomal aberration of workers and may be potential monitoring markers for LLIR protection. Taurine metabolism-related pathways were identified as the main differential metabolic pathway under LLIR inducing, which had been confirmed to have a response to acute or chronic radiation exposure. We expect our study can be helpful to LLIR damage monitoring and symptomatic intervention in the future.