Endocrine Abstracts

This work focuses on the characterization of circulating tumor cells(CTCs) captured from the blood of cancer patients using a microfluidic chip functionalized with an antibody against the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM). We visualize CTCs captured from the blood of prostate cancer patients taking advantage of the unique tumor-associated marker, prostate specific antigen (PSA). Our data demonstrate that CTCs are detectable preoperatively in patients with early stage, resectable prostate cancer with an immediate dramatic postoperative decline (< 24hrs). However, some patients had persistent CTCs for up to 3 months following prostate resection, suggestive of transient extraprostatic tumor deposits. Moreover, CTC counts in patients with metastatic disease declined following the initiation of androgen deprivation therapy or other effective treatments. Remarkably, dual staining of captured CTCs for PSA and Ki67 indicated a broad range in proliferative index of CTCs, reflective of the evolution of prostate cancer growth traits under castrate conditions. Thus, we believe that isolation and analysis of CTCs in both localized and metastatic prostate cancer will provide novel insight into early hematogenous dissemination of prostate cancer and enable molecular analyses of treatment-responsive and -resistant disease, supporting their application in long-term clinical studies.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.