Circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors - a biomarker analysis of the ALICE and ICON trials.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been introduced in breast cancer (BC) treatment and better biomarkers are needed to predict benefit. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are prognostic in BC, but knowledge is limited on CTCs in the context of ICI therapy. In this study, serial sampling of CTCs (CellSearch system) was evaluated in 82 patients with metastatic BC enrolled in two randomized trials investigating ICI plus chemotherapy.

Preoperative CTC-Detection by CellSearch Is Associated with Early Distant Metastasis and Impaired Survival in Resected Pancreatic Cancer.

In patients with presumed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), biomarkers that may open for personalised, risk-adapted treatment are lacking. The study analysed the impact of CTCs-presence on the patterns of recurrence and survival in 98 patients resected for PDAC with 5-10 years of follow-up. Preoperative samples were analysed by the CellSearch system for EpCAM+/DAPI+/CK+/CD45-CTCs.

Cytokeratin-positive cells in the bone marrow from patients with pancreatic, periampullary malignancy and benign pancreatic disease show no prognostic information.

Background: Pancreatic and periampullary carcinoma are aggressive tumours where preoperative assessment is challenging. Disseminated tumour cells (DTC) in the bone marrow (BM) are associated with impaired prognosis in a variety of epithelial cancers. In a cohort of patients with presumed resectable pancreatic and periampullary carcinoma, we evaluated the frequency and the potential prognostic impact of the preoperative presence of DTC, defined as cytokeratin-positive cells detected by immunocytochemistry (ICC).

Circulating Tumor Cells are an Independent Predictor of Shorter Survival in Patients Undergoing Resection for Pancreatic and Periampullary Adenocarcinoma.

Objective: We evaluated the prognostic impact of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for patients with presumed resectable pancreatic and periampullary cancers.

Summary Of Background Data: Initial treatment decisions for this group are currently taken without a reliable prognostic marker. The CellSearch system allows standardized CTC-testing and has shown excellent specificity and prognostic value in other applications.

Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells at Surgery and at Follow-Up Assessment to Predict Survival After Two-Stage Liver Resection of Colorectal Liver Metastases.

Background: The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is negatively associated with survival after resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM). The current study aimed to determine the prognostic value of CTCs and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) at the time of surgery and the prognostic value of CTCs at follow-up assessment, for patients scheduled to undergo two-stage hepatectomy with portal vein embolization (PVE) for CLM.

Methods: Samples were collected at surgery (blood and bone marrow) and at follow-up assessment (blood) for the period 2008 through 2011.

Clinical outcome with correlation to disseminated tumor cell (DTC) status after DTC-guided secondary adjuvant treatment with docetaxel in early breast cancer.

Purpose: The presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow (BM) predicts survival in early breast cancer. This study explores the use of DTCs for identification of patients insufficiently treated with adjuvant therapy so they can be offered secondary adjuvant treatment and the subsequent surrogate marker potential of DTCs for outcome determination.

Patients And Methods: Patients with early breast cancer who had completed six cycles of adjuvant fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) chemotherapy underwent BM aspiration 2 to 3 months (BM1) and 8 to 9 months (BM2) after FEC.