title: Short term ex-vivo expansion of circulating head and neck tumour cells.
abstract: Minimally invasive techniques are required for the identification of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients who are at an increased risk of metastasis, or are not responding to therapy. An approach utilised in other solid cancers is the identification and enumeration of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of patients. Low numbers of CTCs has been a limiting factor in the HNC field to date. Here we present a methodology to expand HNC patient derived CTCs ex-vivo. As a proof of principle study, 25 advanced stage HNC patient bloods were enriched for circulating tumour cells through negative selection and cultured in 2D and 3D culture environments under hypoxic conditions (2% O2, 5% CO2). CTCs were detected in 14/25 (56%) of patients (ranging from 1-15 CTCs/5 mL blood). Short term CTC cultures were successfully generated in 7/25 advanced stage HNC patients (5/7 of these cultures were from HPV+ patients). Blood samples from which CTC culture was successful had higher CTC counts (p = 0.0002), and were predominantly from HPV+ patients (p = 0.007). This is, to our knowledge, the first pilot study to culture HNC CTCs ex-vivo. Further studies are warranted to determine the use of short term expansion in HNC and the role of HPV in promoting culture success.
authors: The School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Arutha
authors: A
authors: Kulasinghe
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Perry
authors: School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors: Majid E
authors: ME
authors: Warkiani
authors: The School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Tony
authors: T
authors: Blick
authors: Translational Cell Imaging Queensland, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Davies
authors: Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.|Translational Cell Imaging Queensland, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: O'Byrne
authors: The School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Erik W
authors: EW
authors: Thompson
authors: Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre-Queensland, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Colleen C
authors: CC
authors: Nelson
authors: Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre-Queensland, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, QLD, Australia.|Department of Urology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Wolloongabba, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Ian
authors: I
authors: Vela
authors: The School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.|Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
authors: Chamindie
authors: C
authors: Punyadeera
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002452:Cell Count; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013997:Time Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors
keywords: HPV; circulating tumour cells; ex-vivo culture; head and neck cancer; metastasis