Vimentin expression in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) associated with liver metastases predicts poor progression-free survival in patients with advanced lung cancer

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence of vimentin expression in CTCs and its clinical relevance in patients with advanced lung cancer. METHODS: Peripheral blood was obtained from 61 treatment-naive patients with advanced lung cancer. Subtraction enrichment and immunostaining-fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) platform was applied to identify, enumerate and characterize CTCs based on cell size, aneuploidy of chromosome 8 (Chr8) and vimentin expression. Quantification and analysis of CTCs were performed on patients before chemotherapy administration and after two cycles of therapy. RESULTS: Before treatment, CTCs were detected in 60 (98.4%) patients, small cell CTCs (≤ 5 µm of WBCs) accounted for 52.8% of the absolute CTCs number, while 12 (19.7%) of the included patients had detectable vimentin-positive CTCs (vim(+) CTCs). Liver metastases were reported in 7 (11.5%) patients and were significantly correlated to the presence of Vim(+) CTCs (p = 0.002), with a high positivity rate of 71.4% (5/7). Vim(+) CTCs were mostly in small cell size and Chr8 aneuploidy (77.0% and 82.05%, respectively). Baseline small cell CTCs ≥ 2/6 ml, triploid CTCs ≥ 2/6 ml, Vim(+) CTCs ≥ 1/6 ml were found to significantly correlate with poor progression-free survival (PFS) (p = 0.017, p = 0.009 and p = 0.001, respectively). After adjusting for clinically significant factors, baseline Vim(+) CTCs ≥ 1/6 ml was the only independent predictor of poor PFS [hazard ratio (HR):2.756, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.239–6.131; p = 0.013]. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates an important morphologic, karyotypic and phenotypic CTCs heterogeneity in advanced lung cancer patients. The majority of Vim(+) CTCs are in small size and Chr8 aneuploidy. Baseline presence of Vim(+) CTCs is correlated with liver metastases and may help predict poor PFS. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00432-019-03040-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.