title: Gene expression profiling of circulating tumor cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from breast cancer patients.
abstract: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that are released from a tumor into the bloodstream. The presence of CTCs in peripheral blood has been associated with metastasis formation in patients with breast cancer. Therefore, the molecular characterization of CTCs may improve diagnostics and support treatment decisions. We performed gene expression profiling to evaluate the enriched CTCs and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of breast cancer patients using an expression panel of 55 breast cancer-associated genes. The study revealed several significantly differentially expressed genes in the CTC-positive samples, including a few that were exclusively expressed in these cells. However, the expression of these genes was barely detectable in the PBMC samples. Some genes were differentially expressed in PBMCs, and the expression of these genes was correlated with tumor grade and the formation of metastasis. In this study, we have shown that the enriched CTCs of breast cancer patients overexpress genes involved in proteolytic degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) as well as genes that play important roles in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process that may occur in these cells.
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s. , Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hensler
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s., Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Immunology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vančurová
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cancer, Immune Control and Escape, UMRS 1138 INSERM, Cordeliers Research Center , Paris, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Becht
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s. , Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondřej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Palata
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital Motol , Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strnad
authors.affiliation: Oncology Clinic, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University , Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tesařová
authors.affiliation: Oncology Clinic, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University , Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Čabiňaková
authors.affiliation: TATAA Biocenter, Göteborg, Sweden; Laboratory of Gene Expression, Institute of Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Švec
authors.affiliation: TATAA Biocenter, Göteborg, Sweden; Laboratory of Gene Expression, Institute of Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubista
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s., Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Immunology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiřina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartůňková
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s., Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Immunology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Radek
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Špíšek
authors.affiliation: Sotio, a.s., Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Immunology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Luděk
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sojka
keywords: Breast cancer, circulating tumor cells; gene expression profiling; peripheral blood mononuclear cells; prognostic