title: Clinical significance of circulating tumor cells in patients with small-cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study investigated the correlation of the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with clinical characteristics, and the predictive value of CTCs for progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Samples were obtained from 42 patients with SCLC before and after the first cycle of chemotherapy. CTCs were quantitated by negative immunomagnetic enrichment and immunocytochemistry using anti-CD45 and anti-pancytokeratin antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CTCs were positive (≥2) in 76.19% of patients with SCLC and negative in the control group. The presence of CTCs was positively correlated with 6 clinical characteristics. PFS was 6.055 and 10.670 months for patients with ≥2 and <2 CTCs/7.5 mL of blood before chemotherapy; after chemotherapy PFS was 4.862 and 10.535 months, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that both baseline CTC numbers and the change in CTC numbers after 1 cycle of chemotherapy are significant prognostic factors of PFS for SCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan - China.
authors.forename: Yu-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygyr Autonomous Region, Uygyr - China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shihezi University School of Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Shihezi - China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shihezi University School of Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Shihezi - China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shihezi University School of Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Shihezi - China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002452:Cell Count; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor