circulating tumour cells

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant global health concern. We need ways to detect it early and determine the best treatments. One promising method is liquid biopsy, which uses cancer cells and other components in the blood to help diagnose and treat the disease. Liquid biopsies focus on three key elements: circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating microRNA (miRNA), and circulating tumor cells (CTC). By analyzing these elements, we can identify CRC in its early stages, predict how well a treatment will work, and even spot signs of cancer returning...

Predictive biomarkers of response to immune checkpoint-based therapies (ICI) remain a critically unmet need in the management of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The complex interplay of the tumour microenvironment (TME) and the circulating immune response has proven to be challenging to decipher. MicroRNAs have gained increasing attention for their role in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation, particularly because they can have immunomodulatory properties. We evaluated the presence of immune-specific extracellular vesicle (EV) microRNAs in the plasma of patients with metastatic RCC (mRCC) prior to initiation of ICI...

This systematic review investigates the potential of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) as a predictive biomarker in the management and prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA). PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials were searched until 7 January 2024. Selection criteria included research articles exploring ctDNA in the context of anal cancer treatment response, recurrence risk assessment, and consideration of salvage surgery. A total of eight studies were therefore included in the final review, examining a total of 628 patients...

Gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) is one of the principal causes of death related to cancer globally. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a tyrosine kinase receptor which is found to be overexpressed or amplified in approximately 20% of GEA cases. In GEA, the identification of HER2-positive status is crucial to activate a specific anti-HER2 targeted therapy. The landmark ToGA trial demonstrated the superiority of adding trastuzumab to platinum-based chemotherapy, becoming the first-line standard of treatment...

Current prostate carcinoma (PCa) biomarkers, including total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA), have unsatisfactory diagnostic sensitivity and specificity resulting in overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Previously, we described an optimised bias-based preamplification-digital droplet PCR (OBBPA-ddPCR) technique, which detects tumour DNA in blood-derived cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of cancer patients. The current study investigated the performance of newly developed OBBPA-ddPCR-based biomarkers. Blood plasma samples from healthy individuals ( n = 90, controls) and PCa ( n = 39) and benign prostatic hyperplasia patients (BPH, n = 40) were analysed...

Granzyme B (GrB)-based immunotherapy is of interest for cancer treatment. However, insufficient cellular uptake and a lack of targeting remain challenges to make use of GrB for solid tumour therapy. As GrB induced cell death requires the help of perforin (PFN), we designed a system (nGPM) for the co-delivery of GrB and PFN. Therefore, GrB and PFN were loaded in a porous polymeric nanocapsule rich in acetylcholine analogues and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) responsive peptides. The neutrally charged nGPM nanocapsules showed as long circulating time and accumulated at the tumour sites...

BACKGROUND: Circulating plasma cells (CPCs) are defined by the presence of peripheral blood clonal plasma cells, which would contribute to the progression and dissemination of multiple myeloma (MM). An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the predictive potential of CPCs in the past few years. Therefore, there is a growing need for an updated meta-analysis to identify the specific relationship between CPCs and the prognosis of MM based on the current research status. METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were screened to determine eligible studies from inception to November 5, 2023...

Metastasis has a major part in the severity of disease and lethality of cancer. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) represent a reservoir of metastatic precursors in circulation, most of which cannot survive due to hostile conditions in the bloodstream. Surviving cells colonise a secondary site based on a combination of physical, metabolic, and oxidative stress protection states required for that environment. Recent advances in CTC isolation methods and high-resolution 'omics technologies are revealing specific metabolic pathways that support this selection of CTCs...

BACKGROUND: TACE may prime adaptive immunity and enhance immunotherapy efficacy. PETAL evaluated safety, preliminary activity of TACE plus pembrolizumab and explored mechanisms of efficacy. METHODS: Patients with liver-confined HCC were planned to receive up to 2 rounds of TACE followed by pembrolizumab 200 mg every 21 days commencing 30-days post-TACE until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity for up to 1 year. Primary endpoint was safety, 21-days dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) from pembrolizumab initiation...

BACKGROUND: Cancer cachexia is a life-threatening, inflammation-driven wasting syndrome that remains untreatable. Adiponectin, the most abundant adipokine, plays an important role in several metabolic processes as well as in inflammation modulation. Our aim was to test whether administration of AdipoRon (AR), a synthetic agonist of the adiponectin receptors, prevents the development of cancer cachexia and its related muscle atrophy. METHODS: The effect of AR on cancer cachexia was investigated in two distinct murine models of colorectal cancer...

Extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTCL), is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is strongly related to Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection and commonly presents as "midline lethal granuloma." Herein, we report a middle-aged lady who presented with a two-week history of fever, sore throat and constitutional symptoms. Intraoral examination revealed a lacerated soft palate with an ulcerated uvula. A diagnosis of ENKTCL was confirmed through deep biopsies under general anaesthesia supplemented with a positive serum EBV genome...

Sotagliflozin is the first dual SGLT1/2 inhibitor antidiabetic drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the management of heart failure. SGLT1/2 inhibition is observed to potentiate the secretion of the incretin hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). The current preclinical research sought to investigate the effect of sotagliflozin on the secretion of fat-regulating peptides such as GLP-1, glucagon and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and their prospective association with sotagliflozin's potential beneficial effects on dyslipidaemia...

The acid-labile subunit (ALS) of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein (IGFBP) complex, encoded in humans by IGFALS, has a vital role in regulating the endocrine transport and bioavailability of IGF-1 and IGF-2. Accordingly, ALS has a considerable influence on postnatal growth and metabolism. ALS is a leucine-rich glycoprotein that forms high-affinity ternary complexes with IGFBP-3 or IGFBP-5 when they are occupied by either IGF-1 or IGF-2. These complexes constitute a stable reservoir of circulating IGFs, blocking the potentially hypoglycaemic activity of unbound IGFs...

Minimal residual disease (MRD) has been defined as a very small numbers of cancer cells that remain in the body after curative treatment. Its presence or absence will ultimately determine prognosis. With the introduction of new technologies the presence of MRD in patients with solid tumours can be detected and characterized. As MRD predicts future relapse, be it early or late treatment failure, in an otherwise asymptomatic patient its treatment and when to start treatment remains to be determined. Thus the concepts of personalized medicine using different biomarkers to classify the biological properties of MRD maybe come possible...

Brain tumours reduce life expectancy for an average of 20 years per patient, the highest of any cancer. A third of brain tumour patients visit their GP at least five times before diagnosis and many of those are diagnosed late through emergency departments. A possible solution to this challenge is to utilise a "liquid biopsy" blood test designed for circulating tumour cells (CTCs). Such a test could be applied at a primary healthcare centre, contributing to informed decision making for diagnostic imaging referrals...

BACKGROUND: The availability of circulating biomarkers that are predictive of treatment response or prognostic of overall outcome could enable the personalised and adaptive use of radiotherapy (RT) in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) and squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS: A systematic review was carried out following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews guidance. Medline, EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Scopus and the Web of Science databases were searched for studies published between January 2005-February 2023 relating to circulating biomarkers evaluated in the context of neoadjuvant or definitive RT delivered for OAC/OSCC...

Currently, therapy response cannot be accurately predicted in HER2-negative breast cancer (BC). Measuring stromal tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) and mediators of the tumour microenvironment and characterizing tumour-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) may improve treatment response in the neoadjuvant setting. Tumour tissue and peripheral blood samples were retrospectively collected from 118 patients, and sTILs were evaluated. Circulating exosomes and myeloid-derived suppressor cells were determined by flow cytometry...

PURPOSE: Isolating circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from the blood is challenging due to their low abundance and heterogeneity. Limitations of conventional CTC detection methods highlight the need for improved strategies to detect and isolate CTCs. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved CellSearch™ and other RUO techniques are not available in India. Therefore, we wanted to develop a flexible CTC detection/isolation technique that addresses the limitation(s) of currently available techniques and is suitable for various downstream applications...

Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common malignant tumour of the gastrointestinal tract. Early detection and access to appropriate treatment are crucial for the long-term survival of patients. However, limited diagnostic and monitoring methods are available for identifying early stage ESCC. Endoscopic screening and surgical resection are commonly used to diagnose and treat early ESCC. However, these methods have disadvantages, such as high recurrence, lethality, and mortality rates. Therefore, methods to improve early diagnosis of ESCC and reduce its mortality rate are urgently required...

In recent years, the importance of isolating single cells from blood circulation for several applications, such as non-invasive tumour diagnosis, the monitoring of minimal residual disease, and the analysis of circulating fetal cells for prenatal diagnosis, urged the need to set up innovative methods. For such applications, different methods were developed. All show some weaknesses, especially a limited sensitivity, and specificity. Here we present a new method for isolating a single or a limited number of cells adhered to SBS slides (Tethis S...