Home LiteratureArticle Details
PMID: 26809472 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer.

Molecular oncology ·Vol. 10 ·No. 3 ·2016-03-00 ·Pages 418-30

Bidard FC, Proudhon C, Pierga JY

Abstract

Over the past decade, technically reliable circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection methods allowed the collection of large datasets of CTC counts in cancer patients. These data can be used either as a dynamic prognostic biomarker or as tumor material for "liquid biopsy". Breast cancer appears to be the cancer type in which CTC have been the most extensively studied so far, with level-of-evidence-1 studies supporting the clinical validity of CTC count in both early and metastatic stage. This review summarizes and discusses the clinical results obtained in breast cancer patients, the issues faced by the molecular characterization of CTC and the biological findings about cancer biology and metastasis that were obtained from CTC.

Keywords
Breast cancer Circulating tumor cells Metastatic process Prognostic markers
MeSH Terms
Animals Biopsy/methods Breast Neoplasms/blood,diagnosis,pathology Female Humans Neoplasm Metastasis/diagnosis,pathology Neoplastic Cells, Circulating/pathology Prognosis
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Bidard Francois-Clement
Institut Curie, PSL Research University, SiRIC, Laboratory of Circulating Tumor Biomarkers, Paris, France; Institut Curie, PSL Research University, Department of Medical Oncology, Paris, France.
Proudhon Charlotte
Institut Curie, PSL Research University, SiRIC, Laboratory of Circulating Tumor Biomarkers, Paris, France.
Pierga Jean-Yves
Institut Curie, PSL Research University, SiRIC, Laboratory of Circulating Tumor Biomarkers, Paris, France; Institut Curie, PSL Research University, Department of Medical Oncology, Paris, France; Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. Electronic address: jean-yves.pierga@curie.fr.
References (110)
110 references, click to expand
  1. Detection of cytokeratin-19 mRNA-positive cells in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with operable breast cancer.
    Br J Cancer. 2009 Aug 18;101(4):589-97 PMID: 19623181
  2. Circulating Tumor Cells and Circulating Tumor DNA: Challenges and Opportunities on the Path to Clinical Utility.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Nov 1;21(21):4786-800 PMID: 26527805
  3. Circulating tumor cells, disease progression, and survival in metastatic breast cancer.
    N Engl J Med. 2004 Aug 19;351(8):781-91 PMID: 15317891
  4. Molecular profiling of single circulating tumor cells with diagnostic intention.
    EMBO Mol Med. 2014 Oct 30;6(11):1371-86 PMID: 25358515
  5. Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer.
    Mol Oncol. 2016 Mar;10(3):418-30 PMID: 26809472
  6. Co-expression of putative stemness and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition markers on single circulating tumour cells from patients with early and metastatic breast cancer.
    BMC Cancer. 2014 Sep 03;14:651 PMID: 25182808
  7. Comparison of the clinical significance of occult tumor cells in blood and bone marrow in breast cancer.
    Int J Cancer. 2006 Apr 15;118(8):2013-9 PMID: 16287086
  8. Prognostic impact of circulating tumor cells assessed with the CellSearch System™ and AdnaTest Breast™ in metastatic breast cancer patients: the DETECT study.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2012 Aug 15;14(4):R118 PMID: 22894854
  9. SOX17 promoter methylation in circulating tumor cells and matched cell-free DNA isolated from plasma of patients with breast cancer.
    Clin Chem. 2013 Jan;59(1):270-9 PMID: 23136251
  10. Frequent expression of PD-L1 on circulating breast cancer cells.
    Mol Oncol. 2015 Nov;9(9):1773-82 PMID: 26093818
  11. Analysis of circulating tumor DNA to monitor metastatic breast cancer.
    N Engl J Med. 2013 Mar 28;368(13):1199-209 PMID: 23484797
  12. EpCAM based capture detects and recovers circulating tumor cells from all subtypes of breast cancer except claudin-low.
    Oncotarget. 2015 Dec 29;6(42):44623-34 PMID: 26556851
  13. Clinical relevance and biology of circulating tumor cells.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2011;13(6):228 PMID: 22114869
  14. Single cell mutational analysis of PIK3CA in circulating tumor cells and metastases in breast cancer reveals heterogeneity, discordance, and mutation persistence in cultured disseminated tumor cells from bone marrow.
    BMC Cancer. 2014 Jun 19;14:456 PMID: 24947048
  15. Detection and HER2 expression of circulating tumor cells: prospective monitoring in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant GeparQuattro trial.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2010 May 1;16(9):2634-45 PMID: 20406831
  16. Retaining the long-survive capacity of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) followed by xeno-transplantation: not only from metastatic cancer of the breast but also of prostate cancer patients.
    Oncoscience. 2013 Dec 31;1(1):49-56 PMID: 25593983
  17. External quality assurance of circulating tumor cell enumeration using the CellSearch(®) system: a feasibility study.
    Cytometry B Clin Cytom. 2011 Mar;80(2):112-8 PMID: 21337491
  18. Clinical application of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: overview of the current interventional trials.
    Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2013 Jun;32(1-2):179-88 PMID: 23129208
  19. Cancer micrometastases.
    Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2009 Jun;6(6):339-51 PMID: 19399023
  20. Identification of genomic signatures in circulating tumor cells from breast cancer.
    Int J Cancer. 2015 Jul 15;137(2):332-44 PMID: 25529931
  21. Circulating tumor cell thresholds and survival scores in advanced metastatic breast cancer: the observational step of the CirCe01 phase III trial.
    Cancer Lett. 2015 May 1;360(2):213-8 PMID: 25700777
  22. Going with the flow: from circulating tumor cells to DNA.
    Sci Transl Med. 2013 Oct 16;5(207):207ps14 PMID: 24132635
  23. Relationship between circulating tumor cells and epithelial to mesenchymal transition in early breast cancer.
    BMC Cancer. 2015 Jul 22;15:533 PMID: 26194471
  24. Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology.
    Nature. 2007 Dec 20;450(7173):1235-9 PMID: 18097410
  25. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stemness features in circulating tumor cells from breast cancer patients.
    Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 Nov;130(2):449-55 PMID: 21298334
  26. Therapeutic intervention based on circulating tumor cell phenotype in metastatic breast cancer: concept of the DETECT study program.
    Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2016 Feb;293(2):271-81 PMID: 26354331
  27. Real-time RT-PCR detection of disseminated tumour cells in bone marrow has superior prognostic significance in comparison with circulating tumour cells in patients with breast cancer.
    Br J Cancer. 2006 Mar 13;94(5):672-80 PMID: 16495933
  28. Single cell profiling of circulating tumor cells: transcriptional heterogeneity and diversity from breast cancer cell lines.
    PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e33788 PMID: 22586443
  29. Pathological response and circulating tumor cell count identifies treated HER2+ inflammatory breast cancer patients with excellent prognosis: BEVERLY-2 survival data.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Mar 15;21(6):1298-304 PMID: 25538259
  30. Differential expression of proliferation-associated molecules in individual micrometastatic carcinoma cells.
    J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993 Sep 1;85(17):1419-24 PMID: 7688814
  31. Circulating tumor DNA and circulating tumor cells in metastatic triple negative breast cancer patients.
    Int J Cancer. 2015 May 1;136(9):2158-65 PMID: 25307450
  32. Analysing the mutational status of PIK3CA in circulating tumor cells from metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Mol Oncol. 2013 Oct;7(5):976-86 PMID: 23895914
  33. The dynamic range of circulating tumor DNA in metastatic breast cancer.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2014 Aug 09;16(4):421 PMID: 25107527
  34. Single circulating tumor cell detection and overall survival in nonmetastatic breast cancer.
    Ann Oncol. 2010 Apr;21(4):729-733 PMID: 19850639
  35. Genomic high-resolution profiling of single CKpos/CD45neg flow-sorting purified circulating tumor cells from patients with metastatic breast cancer.
    Clin Chem. 2014 Oct;60(10):1290-7 PMID: 25267515
  36. International study on inter-reader variability for circulating tumor cells in breast cancer.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2014 Apr 23;16(2):R43 PMID: 24758318
  37. Liquid biopsy in cancer patients: advances in capturing viable CTCs for functional studies using the EPISPOT assay.
    Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2015;15(11):1411-7 PMID: 26390240
  38. Circulating tumor cells and response to neoadjuvant paclitaxel and HER2-targeted therapy: a sub-study from the NeoALTTO phase III trial.
    Breast. 2013 Dec;22(6):1060-5 PMID: 24060577
  39. Monitoring apoptosis and Bcl-2 on circulating tumor cells in patients with metastatic breast cancer.
    Mol Oncol. 2013 Jun;7(3):680-92 PMID: 23538216
  40. Circulating tumour cells in non-metastatic breast cancer: a prospective study.
    Lancet Oncol. 2012 Jul;13(7):688-95 PMID: 22677156
  41. A pooled analysis of bone marrow micrometastasis in breast cancer.
    N Engl J Med. 2005 Aug 25;353(8):793-802 PMID: 16120859
  42. Circulating Tumor Cells After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Stage I-III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
    Ann Surg Oncol. 2015 Dec;22 Suppl 3:S552-8 PMID: 25968619
  43. Circulating tumor cells at each follow-up time point during therapy of metastatic breast cancer patients predict progression-free and overall survival.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2006 Jul 15;12(14 Pt 1):4218-24 PMID: 16857794
  44. Frequent down-regulation of major histocompatibility class I antigen expression on individual micrometastatic carcinoma cells.
    Cancer Res. 1991 Sep 1;51(17):4712-5 PMID: 1873815
  45. The prognostic significance of tumour cell detection in the peripheral blood versus the bone marrow in 733 early-stage breast cancer patients.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2011 Jun 14;13(3):R61 PMID: 21672237
  46. CD49f-based selection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) improves detection across breast cancer subtypes.
    Cancer Lett. 2012 Jun 1;319(1):49-55 PMID: 22202642
  47. Circulating tumor cell analysis in metastatic triple-negative breast cancers.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Mar 1;21(5):1098-105 PMID: 25524311
  48. Challenges for CTC-based liquid biopsies: low CTC frequency and diagnostic leukapheresis as a potential solution.
    Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2016;16(2):147-64 PMID: 26587751
  49. Biomarkers characterization of circulating tumour cells in breast cancer patients.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2012 May 03;14(3):R71 PMID: 22554015
  50. Circulating tumor cell enumeration with a combination of epithelial cell adhesion molecule- and cell-surface vimentin-based methods for monitoring breast cancer therapeutic response.
    Clin Chem. 2015 Jan;61(1):259-66 PMID: 25336717
  51. MAPK7 Regulates EMT Features and Modulates the Generation of CTCs.
    Mol Cancer Res. 2015 May;13(5):934-43 PMID: 25678598
  52. Identification of a population of blood circulating tumor cells from breast cancer patients that initiates metastasis in a xenograft assay.
    Nat Biotechnol. 2013 Jun;31(6):539-44 PMID: 23609047
  53. Development of circulating tumor cell-endocrine therapy index in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Jun 1;21(11):2487-98 PMID: 25381338
  54. Adjuvant oral clodronate improves the overall survival of primary breast cancer patients with micrometastases to the bone marrow: a long-term follow-up.
    Ann Oncol. 2008 Dec;19(12):2007-11 PMID: 18664560
  55. DNA methylation of tumor suppressor and metastasis suppressor genes in circulating tumor cells.
    Clin Chem. 2011 Aug;57(8):1169-77 PMID: 21700955
  56. Gene expression profiles in circulating tumor cells to predict prognosis in metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Ann Oncol. 2015 Mar;26(3):510-6 PMID: 25471333
  57. Unbiased quantitative assessment of Her-2 expression of circulating tumor cells in patients with metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancer.
    Ann Oncol. 2013 May;24(5):1231-8 PMID: 23275633
  58. Expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-inducing transcription factors in primary breast cancer: The effect of neoadjuvant therapy.
    Int J Cancer. 2012 Feb 15;130(4):808-16 PMID: 21387303
  59. Circulating tumour cells and pathological complete response: independent prognostic factors in inflammatory breast cancer in a pooled analysis of two multicentre phase II trials (BEVERLY-1 and -2) of neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab.
    Ann Oncol. 2017 Jan 1;28(1):103-109 PMID: 28177480
  60. Heterogeneity of PIK3CA mutational status at the single cell level in circulating tumor cells from metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Mol Oncol. 2015 Apr;9(4):749-57 PMID: 25539732
  61. Circulating and disseminated tumor cells from breast cancer patient-derived xenograft-bearing mice as a novel model to study metastasis.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2015 Jan 09;17:3 PMID: 25572662
  62. Discordance in HER2 gene amplification in circulating and disseminated tumor cells in patients with operable breast cancer.
    Cancer Med. 2013 Apr;2(2):226-33 PMID: 23634290
  63. Detection and characterization of circulating tumor cells in blood of primary breast cancer patients by RT-PCR and comparison to status of bone marrow disseminated cells.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2009;11(4):R59 PMID: 19664291
  64. HER-2 gene amplification can be acquired as breast cancer progresses.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jun 22;101(25):9393-8 PMID: 15194824
  65. A "class action" against the microenvironment: do cancer cells cooperate in metastasis?
    Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2008 Mar;27(1):5-10 PMID: 18066649
  66. The influence of removal of primary tumor on incidence and phenotype of circulating tumor cells in primary breast cancer.
    Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Feb;132(1):121-9 PMID: 21562707
  67. Different prognostic value of cytokeratin-19 mRNA positive circulating tumor cells according to estrogen receptor and HER2 status in early-stage breast cancer.
    J Clin Oncol. 2007 Nov 20;25(33):5194-202 PMID: 17954712
  68. Prognostic relevance of viable circulating tumor cells detected by EPISPOT in metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Clin Chem. 2014 Jan;60(1):214-21 PMID: 24255082
  69. High independent prognostic and predictive value of circulating tumor cells compared with serum tumor markers in a large prospective trial in first-line chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Ann Oncol. 2012 Mar;23(3):618-624 PMID: 21642515
  70. Monitoring the response of circulating epithelial tumor cells to adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer allows detection of patients at risk of early relapse.
    J Clin Oncol. 2008 Mar 10;26(8):1208-15 PMID: 18323545
  71. Translating metastasis-related biomarkers to the clinic--progress and pitfalls.
    Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2013 Mar;10(3):169-79 PMID: 23381003
  72. Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions in tumour progression.
    Nat Rev Cancer. 2002 Jun;2(6):442-54 PMID: 12189386
  73. Multiple biomarker expression on circulating tumor cells in comparison to tumor tissues from primary and metastatic sites in patients with locally advanced/inflammatory, and stage IV breast cancer, using a novel detection technology.
    Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 Jul;128(1):155-63 PMID: 21499685
  74. Pooled Analysis of the Prognostic Relevance of Circulating Tumor Cells in Primary Breast Cancer.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2016 May 15;22(10):2583-93 PMID: 26733614
  75. PIK3CA mutational status in circulating tumor cells can change during disease recurrence or progression in patients with breast cancer.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Nov 15;20(22):5823-34 PMID: 25398847
  76. Circulating tumor cells predict survival in early average-to-high risk breast cancer patients.
    J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014 May 15;106(5): PMID: 24832787
  77. Circulating Tumor Cells and Recurrence After Primary Systemic Therapy in Stage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
    J Natl Cancer Inst. 2015 Sep 14;107(11): PMID: 26374427
  78. Circulating tumor cell detection predicts early metastatic relapse after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in large operable and locally advanced breast cancer in a phase II randomized trial.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Nov 1;14(21):7004-10 PMID: 18980996
  79. Detection of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer may improve through enrichment with anti-CD146.
    Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 May;127(1):33-41 PMID: 20379845
  80. Microfluidic: an innovative tool for efficient cell sorting.
    Methods. 2012 Jul;57(3):297-307 PMID: 22796377
  81. Assessment of γ-H2AX levels in circulating tumor cells from patients receiving chemotherapy.
    Front Oncol. 2012 Oct 25;2:128 PMID: 23112954
  82. A direct comparison of CellSearch and ISET for circulating tumour-cell detection in patients with metastatic carcinomas.
    Br J Cancer. 2011 Sep 6;105(6):847-53 PMID: 21829190
  83. Circulating tumor cells and response to chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer: SWOG S0500.
    J Clin Oncol. 2014 Nov 1;32(31):3483-9 PMID: 24888818
  84. Circulating tumor cells in newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2015 Jan 09;17:2 PMID: 25572591
  85. Use of Biomarkers to Guide Decisions on Systemic Therapy for Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology Clinical Practice Guideline.
    J Clin Oncol. 2015 Aug 20;33(24):2695-704 PMID: 26195705
  86. Clinical significance of immunocytochemical detection of tumor cells using digital microscopy in peripheral blood and bone marrow of breast cancer patients.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2004 Feb 15;10(4):1392-400 PMID: 14977842
  87. Circulating breast tumor cells exhibit dynamic changes in epithelial and mesenchymal composition.
    Science. 2013 Feb 1;339(6119):580-4 PMID: 23372014
  88. Considerations in the development of circulating tumor cell technology for clinical use.
    J Transl Med. 2012 Jul 02;10:138 PMID: 22747748
  89. Gene expression profiles of circulating tumor cells versus primary tumors in metastatic breast cancer.
    Cancer Lett. 2015 Jun 28;362(1):36-44 PMID: 25797316
  90. Potentiated DNA Damage Response in Circulating Breast Tumor Cells Confers Resistance to Chemotherapy.
    J Biol Chem. 2015 Jun 12;290(24):14811-25 PMID: 25897074
  91. FISH-based determination of HER2 status in circulating tumor cells isolated with the microfluidic CEE™ platform.
    Cancer Genet. 2011 Nov;204(11):589-95 PMID: 22200084
  92. Clinical validity of circulating tumour cells in patients with metastatic breast cancer: a pooled analysis of individual patient data.
    Lancet Oncol. 2014 Apr;15(4):406-14 PMID: 24636208
  93. Short-term expansion of breast circulating cancer cells predicts response to anti-cancer therapy.
    Oncotarget. 2015 Jun 20;6(17):15578-93 PMID: 26008969
  94. Breast cancer metastasis suppressor-1 promoter methylation in primary breast tumors and corresponding circulating tumor cells.
    Mol Cancer Res. 2013 Oct;11(10):1248-57 PMID: 23744981
  95. Clinical utility of circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer.
    J Clin Oncol. 2015 May 10;33(14):1622 PMID: 25870091
  96. Ex Vivo Culture of CTCs: An Emerging Resource to Guide Cancer Therapy.
    Cancer Res. 2015 Jun 15;75(12):2411-5 PMID: 25998619
  97. mRNA and microRNA expression profiles in circulating tumor cells and primary tumors of metastatic breast cancer patients.
    Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Jun 1;17(11):3600-18 PMID: 21505063
  98. Monitoring in metastatic breast cancer: is imaging outdated in the era of circulating tumor cells?
    Breast Care (Basel). 2014 Feb;9(1):16-21 PMID: 24803882
  99. Bone marrow micrometastasis in breast cancer: review of detection methods, prognostic impact and biological issues.
    J Clin Pathol. 2008 May;61(5):570-6 PMID: 18037661
  100. Clinical outcome with correlation to disseminated tumor cell (DTC) status after DTC-guided secondary adjuvant treatment with docetaxel in early breast cancer.
    J Clin Oncol. 2014 Dec 1;32(34):3848-57 PMID: 25366688
  101. Comparison of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in peripheral blood and disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow (DTC-BM) of breast cancer patients.
    J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2013 Jun;139(6):1055-62 PMID: 23525580
  102. Prognostic value of peripheral blood double detection of CK19 and MUC1 mRNA positive cells detected by RT-quantitative PCR in 94 breast cancer patients with a follow up of 9 years.
    Mol Oncol. 2007 Dec;1(3):267-8 PMID: 19383302
  103. Time-Dependent Prognostic Impact of Circulating Tumor Cells Detection in Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer: 70-Month Analysis of the REMAGUS02 Study.
    Int J Breast Cancer. 2013;2013:130470 PMID: 23762567
  104. Circulating tumor cells from patients with advanced prostate and breast cancer display both epithelial and mesenchymal markers.
    Mol Cancer Res. 2011 Aug;9(8):997-1007 PMID: 21665936
  105. TP53 mutations detected in circulating tumor cells present in the blood of metastatic triple negative breast cancer patients.
    Breast Cancer Res. 2014 Oct 09;16(5):445 PMID: 25307991
  106. Neoadjuvant bevacizumab, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy for primary inflammatory HER2-positive breast cancer (BEVERLY-2): an open-label, single-arm phase 2 study.
    Lancet Oncol. 2012 Apr;13(4):375-84 PMID: 22377126
  107. Improved Circulating Tumor Cell Detection by a Combined EpCAM and MCAM CellSearch Enrichment Approach in Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.
    Mol Cancer Ther. 2015 Mar;14(3):821-7 PMID: 25552367
  108. Diagnostic leukapheresis enables reliable detection of circulating tumor cells of nonmetastatic cancer patients.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Oct 8;110(41):16580-5 PMID: 24065821
  109. Real-time liquid biopsy: circulating tumor cells versus circulating tumor DNA.
    Ann Transl Med. 2013 Jul;1(2):18 PMID: 25332962
  110. Effect of ibandronate on disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow of patients with primary breast cancer: a pilot study.
    Anticancer Res. 2011 Oct;31(10):3623-8 PMID: 21965788
Article Info
Journal
Molecular oncology
Abbr.
Mol Oncol
ISSN
1878-0261
Published
2016-03-00
Epub
2016-00-12
Pages
418-30
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101308230
PMCID
PMC5528978
Subset
IM
Analysis Services
Analysis Services

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: product@genelibs.com