Detection of survivin-expressing circulating cancer cells in the peripheral blood of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its clinical significance.
We previously demonstrated that the detection of circulating cancer cells (CCC) expressing survivin mRNA could provide valuable information for predicting recurrence in patients with breast, lung, gastric and colorectal carcinoma. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the detection of survivin-expressing CCC in the peripheral blood is also useful for predicting recurrence in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Blood samples obtained from 108 ESCC patients and 75 healthy volunteers were quantitatively investigated by a technique that detected reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction products based on a hybridization-enzyme linked immunosorbent essay. Not all of the patients were available for the follow-up study. Only 48 patients who were treated with similar adjuvant therapy regimens were available and followed-up for 33 months after the initial assay test. Survivin-expressing CCC were detected in 51 (47.2%) patients. The presence of survivin-expressing CCC was found to be significantly associated with depth of invasion, vascular invasion, nodal status, and disease stages (P = 0.032, 0.019, 0.018, and 0.001, respectively). During the follow-up period, patients who had positive survivin expressions had a higher relapse rate and a shorter survival time than those who had negative survivin expressions (P = 0.002 and 0.016, respectively). Examination of survivin-expressing CCC could provide valuable information in the prediction of haematogenous recurrence as well as in the prognosis of ESCC.
Cao
Mei
M
Core Laboratory, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Yie
Shang-Mian
SM
Wu
Sheng-Min
SM
Chen
Shu
S
Lou
Be
B
He
Xu
X
Ye
Shang-Rong
SR
Xie
Ke
K
Rao
Lin
L
Gao
En
E
Ye
Nai-Yao
NY
D001483:Base Sequence; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D017931:DNA Primers; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016019:Survival Analysis; D000077022:Survivin
C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D017931:DNA Primers; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000077022:Survivin