Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and hTERT gene expression in CTCs for radiotherapy effect with lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are important biological indicators of the lung cancer prognosis, and CTC counting and typing may provide helpful biological information for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. METHODS: The CTC count in blood before and after radiotherapy was detected by the CanPatrol™ CTC analysis system, and the CTC subtypes and the expression of hTERT before and after radiotherapy were detected by multiple in situ hybridization. The CTC count was calculated as the number of cells per 5 mL of blood. RESULTS: The CTC positivity rate in patients with tumors before radiotherapy was 98.44%. Epithelial–mesenchymal CTCs (EMCTCs) were more common in patients with lung adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma than in patients with small cell lung cancer (P = 0.027). The total CTCs (TCTCs), EMCTCs, and mesenchymal CTCs (MCTCs) counts were significantly higher in patients with TNM stage III and IV tumors (P < 0.001, P = 0.005, and P < 0.001, respectively). The TCTCs and MCTCs counts were significantly higher in patients with an ECOG score of > 1 (P = 0.022 and P = 0.024, respectively). The TCTCs and EMCTCs counts before and after radiotherapy affected the overall response rate (ORR) (P < 0.05). TCTCs and ECTCs with positive hTERT expression were associated with the ORR of radiotherapy (P = 0.002 and P = 0.038, respectively), as were TCTCs with high hTERT expression (P = 0.012). ECOG score (P = 0.006) and post-radiation TCTCs count (P = 0.011) were independent factors for progression-free survival (PFS) and TNM stage (P = 0.054) and pre-radiation EMCTCs count (P = 0.009) were independent factors of overall survival (OS). CONCLUSION: This study showed a high rate of positive CTC detection in patients with lung cancer, and the number, subtype, and hTERT-positive expression of CTCs were closely related to patients’ ORR, PFS, and OS with radiotherapy. EMCTCs, hTERT-positive expression of CTCs are expected to be important biological indicators for predicting radiotherapy efficacy and the prognosis in patients with lung cancer. These results may be useful in improving disease stratification for future clinical trials and may help in clinical decision-making. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-023-10979-z.