CytoTrack Analysis Reveals Low Presence of Circulating Tumor Cells in the Perioperative Period in Patients with Non-metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Detection of circulating tumor cells in the perioperative period predicts poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer. There is only one Food and Drug Administration-approved method for such detection, CellSearch, for which results have been inconsistent. A new immunological method, CytoTrack, has shown promising results in patients with breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate detection of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with non-metastatic colorectal cancer with CytoTrack, and investigate if there is a correlation between presence of circulating tumor cells and Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) stage and if surgery itself results in the release of circulating tumor cells.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted including patients with colorectal cancer UICC stage I-III who underwent minimally-invasive surgery. Patients with previous cancer diagnosis or neoadjuvant chemo/ radiotherapy were excluded. Blood samples were collected from all included patients one day prior to and one day after surgery. Detection of circulating tumor cells was performed using CytoTrack.

RESULTS: A total of 20 patients were consecutively included. Circulating tumor cells were detected in one preoperative sample and two postoperative samples.

CONCLUSION: The presence of circulating tumor cells is rare in patients with non-metastatic colorectal cancer and the new method we used, CytoTrack, was only able to detect circulating tumor cells in three out of 40 blood samples. More specific antibodies are needed to identify circulating tumor cells in these patients.