ENDOTHELIAL CELLS AND CIRCULATING-BLOOD CLUMPS: DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS.
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A patient with a 17-year course of metastatic lobular carcinoma of the breast is described who developed large numbers of circulating carcinoma cells which were easily detectable in several routine peripheral blood smears shortly before death. This rare complication of carcinoma has been called "carcinocythemia." Carcinocythemia is probably due to widespread infiltration of many bone marrow sites and may also be related to splenectomy, which may impair reticuloendothelial clearance of circulating tumor cells. The differential diagnosis of carcinocythemia from superimposed acute myelogenous leukemia, which can complicate radiotherapy and chemotherapy for the primary tumor, is discussed. Cytomorphology, histochemistry, and electron microscopy of abnormal circulating cells should aid in the distinction of these two processes.
There has been a renewed interest in detection of circulating cancer cells due to the simplicity, specificity and sensitivity of a molecular biology technique: RT-PCR. This detection is based on the concept of specificity of an RNA sequence expressed by a cancer cell. PSA appears to be the ideal marker for circulating prostate cancer cells due to its specificity. The authors review the genes of the kallikrein family and discuss the advantages and difficulties involved in the use of PSA messenger RNA as a marker for circulating prostate cancer cells.
Actinomycin D was tested in an experimental preparation to determine its efficacy in the prevention of intravenous metastases. B16 melanoma cells were injected intravenously in syngeneic C57/BL6 mice. Two cell lines of the tumor, designated F1 and F10, with widely different metastatic potentials, were maintained in tissue culture and utilized for evaluation of pulmonary metastases. When actinomycin D was given intraperitoneally at doses of 0.05 and 0.075 mg/kg for 5 days, the number of pulmonary metastases was significantly decreased (P less than .001) in both the F1 and F10 cell lines. Although reduction did occur with a single dose, maximum reduction of pulmonary metastases was effected with a dose schedule administered over 5 days. Evaluation of a group of mice 2 and 3 wk after injection of tumor cells revealed that the effects of actinomycin D were not secondary to delay in tumor growth but did represent highly significant differences in numbers of metastatic lesions. It is concluded that in this experimental preparation actinomycin D, given in an adjuvant setting, can significantly reduce the number of pulmonary metastases. This study may have bearing on the design of adjuvant intraoperative and perioperative chemotherapy in order to destroy circulating tumor cells.
The presence of tumour cells in the blood circulation may predict disease recurrence and metastasis. We have evaluated the specificity and sensitivity of detecting hepatoma cells in blood using nested polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for the alphafetoprotein (AFP) gene. The nested polymerase chain reaction amplified a 270-base pair AFP DNA fragment from cDNA of Hep 3B hepatoma cells. In a reconstitution experiment, AFP mRNA was detected from peripheral mononuclear cells isolated from 10 ml of blood containing as few as ten Hep 3B cells. Peripheral mononuclear cells from the blood of 20 hepatoma patients were analysed, and 19 patients showed positive AFP mRNA expression. Seven of 13 samples from hepatitis patients also showed positive AFP mRNA expression. All five paired samples of peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood from pregnant mothers and their babies, respectively, showed positive AFP expression. None of 22 control samples was positive. The presence of AFP mRNA in the blood of hepatitis or hepatoma patients suggests the presence of circulating hepatoma cells or hepatocytes in the circulation. The high incidence of AFP mRNA in the blood of hepatoma patients supports the notion of early haematogenous spreading of the disease.
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We examined the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin (CK) as well as the sialo- and sulphomucin content of 40 hyperplastic polyps (HPs), 6 mixed hyperplastic-adenomatous polyps, 30 adenomas and 40 adenocarcinomas of the colorectum. HPs showed a positive CEA expression in 95% of cases and a decreased sialo- and sulphomucin content compared with normal mucosa. Similar changes were observed in adenomas with low-grade dysplasia. The increase in CEA expression from HPs and adenomas to carcinomas was accompanied by a reduction of sialo- and sulphomucins with about three fourths of carcinomas being sialo- and sulphomucin negative. Oncofetal antigen expression concomitant with mucin changes observed in HPs may indicate impaired cellular maturation at a functional level before dysplastic changes become visible. CEA and CK positive macrophages were found in carcinomas predominantly at sites of tumor disruption and necrosis as well as within veins and lymphatic vessels. Our findings suggest that macrophages may play a role in CEA and CK release into the circulation and thus may be determinants of tumor marker serum levels.
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PURPOSE: Up to 40% of surgically treated prostate cancers are bound to be understaged by using current diagnostic modalities. To improve on current staging methods for prostate cancer, we evaluated whether nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) mRNA can improve preoperative staging of prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 1996 through November 1997, 30 patients with prostate cancer (T1-T3) were evaluated for PSAmRNA in their peripheral blood by nested RT-PCR before radical retropubic prostatectomy. RESULTS: A highly sensitive RT-PCR assay employed detected one PSA-expressing cell (LNCaP) diluted into ten million mononuclear cells. All 15 controls, including 9 women, showed negative PSAmRNA in their peripheral blood, whereas 16 of 30 (53%) patients with prostate cancer showed positive PSAmRNA in their preoperative peripheral blood. Interestingly, 7 patients with positive PSAmRNA had pathologically organ-confined prostate cancer. No significant relationship was demonstrated between positive PSA-PCR results and clinico-pathological parameters such as clinical stage, pretherapeutic serum PSA, pathological stage, seminal vesicle invasion, lymph node metastasis, vascular invasion, or Gleason sum. CONCLUSION: Our present study showed that the results of PCR-based PSAmRNA assay had no significant association with clinico-pathological parameters. However, the prognostic significance of detecting the circulating prostate-specific signals requires a longer follow-up, which is currently under study.
A new method for detecting circulating tumor cells that is based on magnetic-activated cell separation (MACS) and nested mutant allele-specific amplification (nested MASA) was evaluated in patients with colorectal cancer using the p53 and K-ras genes as genetic markers. By negative selection with anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody-conjugated supermagnetic microbeads, the proportion of tumor cells was enriched 9-fold. By the combination of MACS and nested MASA, 10 tumor cells in 10(7) normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells could be detected without false-positives. Using this method, we examined blood taken from the tumor drainage veins of 23 patients with colorectal cancer. Eighty-seven percent (20/23) of primary tumor tissues showed p53 and/or K-ras gene mutations. Forty-five percent (9/20) of patients with p53 and/or K-ras mutations in the primary tumor showed the same mutated genes in the blood samples. There was a significant association between the presence of p53 and K-ras gene mutation in the blood and tumor size, depth of invasion, and venous invasion. Blood gene mutation was detected in 80% (4/5) of samples from patients with synchronous liver metastases. Sixty percent (3/5) of patients with mutant genes in the blood developed asynchronous liver metastases after surgery. The overall survival of patients with p53 and/or K-ras gene mutation-positive findings in blood was significantly shorter than that of patients testing negative on Kaplan-Meier analysis. Our results suggest that the method may be useful for reliable detection of tumor cells circulating in the blood and may help to identify patients at high risk for relapse.
BACKGROUND: It has long been suspected that mechanical influences may enhance the release of viable colorectal cancer cells into the circulation. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of hematogenous tumor cell spread in colorectal cancer patients during colonoscopy. METHODS: Peripheral venous blood samples were taken before and after colonoscopy from 44 patients with colorectal cancer. Blood samples were examined using a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay to amplify cytokeratin 20 transcripts. RESULTS: Eleven patients with colorectal cancer displayed circulating tumor cells before and after colonoscopy (25%), whereas tumor cells were detected in six of 44 patients (14%) only after the procedure (p = 0.03, McNemar's test: tumor cell detection before after colonoscopy). All control samples consistently tested negative. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical forces may result in enhanced release of viable colorectal cancer cells into the circulation; however, the clinical significance of these results needs to be clarified.
The 67 kD laminin receptor (67LR) binds laminin-1 (LN), major component of the basement membrane, with high affinity. In this study, we demonstrated that human multiple myeloma cell lines (HMCL) and murine 5T2MM cells express 67LR. CD38(bright+) plasma cells in fresh multiple myeloma (MM) bone marrow (BM) samples showed weaker 67LR expression, but expression increased after direct exposure to a BM endothelial cell line (4LHBMEC). LN stimulated the in vitro migration of 3 HMCL (MM5.1, U266 and MMS.1), primary MM cells and the murine 5T2MM cells. 67LR has been shown to mediate the actions of LN through binding to CDPGYIGSR, a 9 amino acid sequence from the B1 chain of LN. MM cell migration was partially blocked by peptide 11, a synthetic nonapeptide derived from this amino sequence and also by a blocking antiserum against 67LR. Co-injection of peptide 11 with 5T2MM cells in a murine in vivo model of MM resulted in a decreased homing of 5T2MM cells to the BM compartment. In conclusion, LN acts as a chemoattractant for MM cells by interaction with 67LR. This interaction might be important during extravasation of circulating MM cells.
BACKGROUND: To evaluate the significance of the presence of circulating renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells in the development of metastases, the authors extended a previous study to quantify cadherin-6 mRNA levels in association with the pattern of metastasis. METHODS: Cadherin-6 mRNA levels were measured in peripheral blood samples from 66 patients with RCC, including 55 patients who had newly diagnosed RCC (43 without metastases and 12 with metastases) and 11 patients who had recurrent RCC. For quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, a cutoff value was determined in blood samples from 25 healthy volunteers and was verified in samples from 5 healthy controls and from 10 patients who had other malignancies. The correlation between the site of metastases and the cadherin-6 mRNA level was analyzed, and a follow-up study (median, 39 months) to track subsequent metastases was performed after patients underwent nephrectomy. RESULTS: Cadherin-6 was found in 69.9% of patients with metastases and in 34.9% of patients without apparent metastases (P = 0.0099). In the group of patients with recurrent RCC, patients who had only pulmonary metastases had a significantly lower positivity rate (25.0%) compared with patients who had distant metastases (85.7%; P = 0.044). Among 43 patients with newly diagnosed RCC, 5 of 15 patients who were positive for cadherin-6 had metastases after nephrectomy, whereas only 2 of the 28 patients with negative cadherin-6 status had recurrent disease (P = 0.0398). In addition, the recurrence-free survival of patients who were positive for cadherin-6 was poorer compared with the survival of patients who were negative for cadherin-6 (P = 0.062). CONCLUSIONS: The quantification of cadherin-6 mRNA in peripheral blood may be a significant predictive marker for current and future metastases. However, subsequent metastases did not always correlate with levels of cadherin-6 mRNA. This may have been due either to the small numbers of circulating tumor cells or to the low levels cadherin-6 mRNA in circulating tumor cells.
PURPOSE: Free plasma RNA has been scarcely studied in patients with cancer. Here we examine the presence of RNA from epithelial tumors in plasma from a series of breast cancer patients and its correlation with tumor characteristics and circulating tumor cells. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: beta-actin mRNA was analyzed to check the viability of plasma RNA in samples from 45 patients with breast cancer and 25 controls. Nested primers were used to detect the presence of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and Mammaglobin in the same samples. Eleven clinicopathological parameters were studied and correlated with molecular parameters. Additionally, we looked for circulating tumor cells in 16 of these patients and in 10 of the controls. RESULTS: All samples showed detectable quantities of beta-actin RNA. In controls, 3 cases (12%) were positive for Mammaglobin, and 5 (20%) were positive for CK19 RNA; of the 45 patients, 27 cases (60%) were positive for Mammaglobin, and 22 (49%) were positive for CK19. These differences were statistically significant (P = 0.001). Tumor size (P = 0.01) and proliferative index (P = 0.02) were associated with the presence of Mammaglobin, CK19, or both RNAs in plasma. Pathological stage (P = 0.06) was close to significance. Although a statistical relationship was not demonstrated, 9 of the 10 patients with circulating tumor cells showed epithelial mRNAs in plasma. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that epithelial tumor RNA is detectable in plasma from breast cancer patients and that this finding is associated with a probable poor prognosis and circulating tumor cells.
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There is not yet a consensus on the reliability of the methods that should be used for the detection of rare disseminated tumor cells from non-hematological malignancies. In this review, we will discuss the advantage and drawbacks of the classical approach of immunocytochemistry and the molecular detection by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The interpretation of the biological significance of circulating tumor cells and the pitfalls of the detection techniques are the main causes of discrepancy between the conclusions of different tumor-cell detection (TCD) studies.
From 1984 to 1996, four patients with transvenous intracardiac tumor extension underwent operations in the Kobe University Hospital. The primary tumors of two were intravenous leiomyomatoses originating from the uterus; a third patient had invasive thymoma, and the fourth patient had clear cell sarcoma of the kidney. In 1985, one patient had a curative, staged resection. One-stage operations were carried out in three patients, and all intracardiac tumors were successfully resected en bloc with the primary tumors under conditions of electrical ventricular fibrillation and mild hypothermia. Combined venous reconstructions were necessary for en bloc resection in three cases. Two patients with malignancy received postoperative chemoradiotherapy, and all four patients were discharged uneventfully from our hospital. We consider radical resection with curative intent only for patients with tumors extending into the heart. In these cases, a one-stage operation is preferable, and electrical ventricular fibrillation with mild hypothermia is a recommended method of circulatory assist because of its simplicity.