title: Morphological differences between circulating tumor cells from prostate cancer patients and cultured prostate cancer cells.
abstract: Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration promises to be an important predictor of clinical outcome for a range of cancers. Established CTC enumeration methods primarily rely on affinity capture of cell surface antigens, and have been criticized for underestimation of CTC numbers due to antigenic bias. Emerging CTC capture strategies typically distinguish these cells based on their assumed biomechanical characteristics, which are often validated using cultured cancer cells. In this study, we developed a software tool to investigate the morphological properties of CTCs from patients with castrate resistant prostate cancer and cultured prostate cancer cells in order to establish whether the latter is an appropriate model for the former. We isolated both CTCs and cultured cancer cells from whole blood using the CellSearch® system and examined various cytomorphological characteristics. In contrast with cultured cancer cells, CTCs enriched by CellSearch® system were found to have significantly smaller size, larger nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio, and more elongated shape. These CTCs were also found to exhibit significantly more variability than cultured cancer cells in nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and shape profile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Sunyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; Department of Biology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.affiliation: Vancouver Prostate Centre, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bazov
authors.affiliation: Vancouver Prostate Centre, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver Cancer Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; Department of Urologic Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Kim N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver Cancer Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; Department of Urologic Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Black
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; Vancouver Prostate Centre, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ; Department of Urologic Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Hongshen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002452:Cell Count; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011379:Prognosis; D011467:Prostate; D064129:Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor