Relationship between circulating tumor cells and tumor response in colorectal cancer patients treated with chemotherapy: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and their value in predicting tumor response to chemotherapy are controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the prognostic and predictive value of CTCs in CRC patients treated with chemotherapy. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search for relevant studies was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Database, the Science Citation Index and the Ovid Database, and the reference lists of relevant studies were also perused for other relevant studies (up to April, 2014). Using the random-effects model in Stata software, version 12.0, the meta-analysis was performed using odds ratios (ORs), risk ratios (RRs), hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as effect measures. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed. RESULTS: Thirteen eligible studies were included. Our meta-analysis indicated that the disease control rate was significantly higher in CRC patients with CTC-low compared with CTC-high (RR = 1.354, 95% CI [1.002–1.830], p = 0.048). CRC patients in the CTC-high group were significantly associated with poor progression-free survival (PFS; HR = 2.500, 95% CI [1.746–3.580], p < 0.001) and poor overall survival (OS; HR = 2.856, 95% CI [1.959–4.164], p < 0.001). Patients who converted from CTC-low to CTC-high or who were persistently CTC-high had a worse disease progression (OR = 27.088, 95% CI [4.960–147.919], p < 0.001), PFS (HR = 2.095, 95% CI [1.105–3.969], p = 0.023) and OS (HR = 3.604, 95% CI [2.096–6.197], p < 0.001) than patients who converted from CTC-high to CTC-low. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis indicates that CTCs are associated with prognosis in CRC patients treated with chemotherapy. Moreover, CTCs could provide additional prognostic information to tumor radiographic imaging and might be used as a surrogate and novel predictive marker for the response to chemotherapy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2407-14-976) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.