Circulating tumor cells and CXCR4 in the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: This study was to determine circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the expression of CXC chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the relationships with prognosis. METHODS: We used an advanced CanPatrol(TM) CTC-enrichment technique to collect CTCs for isolation and characterization from blood samples. The RNA in situ hybridization (RNA-ISH) method, which is based on branched DNA (bDNA) signal amplification technology, was used to determine the expression of CXCR4 according to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in 99 patients with primary liver cancer in blood samples pre-operatively. The relationship between the EMT markers and HCC was determined. RESULTS: The positive rates of CTCs and CXCR4 were 89.9% and 58.8%, respectively. CTCs were positively correlated with the Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) staging, tumor diameter and number, envelope, microsatellite damage, portal vein thrombosis, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and hepatitis B DNA, and negatively correlated with Edmondson grade. There were significant differences in the expression of CXCR4 between interstitial CTCs and mixed CTCs. A total of 99 patients underwent CTCs testing prior to surgery. The tumor-free survival time of HCC patients with interstitial CTCs <1 (13.3 months) was significantly longer than patients with interstitial CTCs ≥1 (5.0 months) pre-operatively. CONCLUSIONS: CTC-positivity was shown to be associated with HCC and can be used as an independent prognostic factor for HCC. High CXCR4 protein expression was more common in mixed CTCs.