Association of preoperative EpCAM Circulating Tumor Cells and peripheral Treg cell levels with early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma following radical hepatic resection

BMC Cancer

Research Article

Yan Zhou¹  Chunyan Zhang¹  Yiwen Zhou¹  Wei Guo¹  Beili Wang¹  Jiong Wu¹  XinRong Yang²  Jia Fan²  Jian Zhou² 

[1] Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 136 Yi Xue Yuan Road, 200032, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;Liver Cancer Institute, Fudan University, 136 Yi Xue Yuan Road, 200032, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: Hepatocellular carcinoma;    Tumor recurrence;    Circulating tumor cells;    Epithelial cell adhesion molecule;    Regulatory T cells;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-016-2526-4

 received in 2015-09-26, accepted in 2016-07-06,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis study was carried out to determine the prognostic significance of preoperative peripheral epithelial cell adhesion molecule- positive (EpCAM+) circulating tumor cell (CTC) and T regulatory (Treg) cell levels in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for the prediction of postoperative recurrence following curative resection.MethodsA total of 49 patients about to undergo curative resection for HCC were recruited into the study. PCR and FACS were used to detect the preoperative levels of EpCAMmRNA+ CTCs and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells. The prognostic value of EpCAMmRNA+ CTCs, CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells, and other clinicopathological factors were analyzed by applying the Kaplan–Meier method and the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.ResultsThe number of EpCAMmRNA+ CTCs and Treg/CD4+ cells showed significant correlation as prognostic factors of postoperative HCC recurrence: EpCAMmRNA+ CTC ≥ 2.22 (P = 0.001) and Treg/CD4+ ≥ 5.07 (P = 0.045), with EpCAMmRNA+ CTC ≥ 2.22 (P = 0.003, HR = 6.668) being the most important indicator. Patients with high CTC/Treg levels showed a significantly higher risk of developing postoperative HCC recurrence than those with low CTC/Treg levels (66.7 % vs. 10.3 %, P < 0.001). The high CTC/low Treg group also presented higher 1-year recurrence rates compared with the low CTC/low Treg level group (50.0 % vs. 10.3 %, P = 0.004).ConclusionsElevated EpCAMmRNA+ CTC and Treg/CD4+ levels were associated with early recurrence of HCC, indicative of poor clinical outcome. The combined detection of EpCAMmRNA+ CTC and Treg/CD4+ may therefore provide a novel prognostic predictor for HCC patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016