title: Epithelial-mesenchymal transitioned circulating tumor cells capture for detecting tumor progression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to detect cell-surface vimentin (CSV) on the surface of epithelial-mesenchymal transitioned (EMT) circulating tumor cells (CTC) from blood of patients with epithelial cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 101 patients undergoing postsurgery adjuvant chemotherapy for metastatic colon cancer were recruited. EMT CTCs were detected from blood of patients using the 84-1 monoclonal antibody against CSV as a marker. EMT CTCs isolated were characterized further using EMT-specific markers, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and single-cell mutation analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the 84-1 antibody, we detected CSV exclusively on EMT CTCs from a variety of tumor types but not in the surrounding normal cells in the blood. The antibody exhibited very high specificity and sensitivity toward different epithelial cancer cells. With this antibody, we detected and enumerated EMT CTCs from patients. From our observations, we defined a cutoff of <5 or ≥5 EMT CTCs as the optimal threshold with respect to therapeutic response using ROC curves. Using this defined threshold, the presence of ≥5 EMT CTCs was associated with progressive disease, whereas patients with <5 EMT CTCs showed therapeutic response.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, the number of EMT CTCs detected correlated with the therapeutic outcome of the disease. These results establish CSV as a universal marker for EMT CTCs from a wide variety of tumor types and thus provide the foundation for emerging CTC detection technologies and for studying the molecular regulation of these EMT CTCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Satelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Abhisek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Brownlee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Xueqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery and Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Seth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bellister
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Overman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery and Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kopetz
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Lee M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Qing H
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas. sli4@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Shulin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018450:Disease Progression; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis; D014746:Vimentin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D014746:Vimentin