Table 1.
Reporting baseline characteristics in the included studies
| Study/(reference) | Country of study | Sample size | Mean age | Male percent | Tumor stage | CTC cutoff N/V(ML) | Target | Detection method | Follow-up duration months | Treatment | Sampling time | CTC incidence before/after treatment | Outcomes measured | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pengjie Yu 2022/[43] | China | 45 | 55 | 89 | II-IV | 1/10ML | EPCAM, CK8, CK18, and CK19, vimentin and twist | Can Patrol CTC enrichment technique | 12 | Chemo | Before treatment | 95 | NR | Low |
| Yang Chen 2021/[37] | China | 111 | 60 | 83 | TNM | 3/6ML | KRAS | WGA | 23 | Chemo | Before treatment | 92 | OS, PFS | High |
| Yang Chen 2021/[38] | China | 114 | 60 | 81 | TNM | NA | HER2 | SE-iFISH | 23 | Chemo | Before treatment | 35 | OS, PFS | High |
| Chengcheng Qian 2021/[44] | China | 72 | 65 | NA | I–IV | 1/5ML | CD45, DAPI, and CEP8 | Im-FISH, Cell Search | 50.18 | Chemo | Before treatment | 72 | OS | Low |
| Daisuke Matsushita 2021/[45] | Japan | 61 | 68 | 85 | NA | NA | HER2, Cell Search | Cell Search | 50 | Chemo | Before treatment | 62 | NR | High |
| Yui Ishiguro 2021/[46] | Japan | 54 | 63 | 66 | I–III | 1/7.5ML | CD45/N-cadherin | MACS | 25 | Surgery | Before and after surgery | 90/47 | NR | Low |
| Yinxing Zhu 2021/[47] | China | 116 | 64 | 77 | I–IV | 3/3.2ML | CD45, DAPI, and CEP8 | Im-FISH | 39 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 43/27 | OS | Low |
| Joon Hyung Jhi 2021/[42] | Korea | 31 | 63 | 71 | TNM | 7.5/7.5 mL | DAPI/CD45/TWIST/EPCAM | FAST | 14 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 80/32 | OS | Low |
| Dawei Ning 2020/[48] | China | 59 | 57 | 83 | I–IV | 3/5ML | Cell Search | Cell Search, CTC-Biopsy systems | 8 | Chemo | Before treatment | 27 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Kenji Kuroda 2020/[49] | Japan | 100 | 70 | 62 | I–IV | 5/10ML | PI, CD45, EPCAM, FGFR2 | FISH/FACS | 25 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 50 | NR | Low |
| Mengyuan Liu 2020/[50] | China | 70 | 63 | 73 | I–IV | 1/1ML | VIM, PD-L1 | MACS/ flow cytometry | Surgery | before Or after treatment | 71 | OS, PFS | Low | |
| Baoguang Hu 2020/ [51] | China | 41 | 64 | 73 | 2/3.2ML | CEP8 + /CD17 + /CD45 − /DAPI + , VIMENTIN, EPCAM, ULBP1 | CYTTEL CTC, IMFISH | 2 | No Treatment | AT BASELINE | 71 | NR | Low | |
| Emne A. Abdollah 2019/[39] | Brazil | 55 | 57 | 60 | TNM | 2.8/1ML | Plakoglobin, HER2 | ISET, ICC | 13 | surgery | Before treatment and after surgery | 91/93 | PFS | Low |
| Boran Cheng 2019/[52] | China | 32 | 66 | 69 | II-IV, TNM | NA | PD-L1, CD45, BD, EPCAM and CK8/18/ 19, Vimentin and Twist | Can Patrol CTC enrichment technique | NA | Chemo | Before treatment | > 80 | NR | Low |
| Rong Lu 2019/[53] | China | 42 | 59 | 69 | III–IV | 1/5 | CA724, CA199, and CEA | ISET | 5 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 36/9 | NR | High |
| Zhenlong Ye 2019/[54] | USA | 45 | NA | NA | III–IV | NA | CD45/EPCAM/CK18/ PD-L1/Vimentin | SE-iFISH | 40 | Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy | Before and after treatment | 96 | NR | High |
| Yang Li 2018/ [55] | China | 150 | 60 | 81 | I–IV | 2/3.2 | DAPI + /CD45-/Chromosome multiploidy | Immunostaining-FISH | 25 | No Treatment | Before treatment | 96 | NR | High |
| Qiyue Zhang 2018/ [56] | China | 93 | 45 | 73 | I–III, TNM | 5/7.5 | Cell search | Cell search system | 17 | Surgery | Before and after surgery | 33/33 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Antoni Szczepanik 2018/[57] | Poland | 228 | 63 | 66 | I–IV | NA | CD45 − , cytokeratin (8, 18, and 19) and CD44 | FACS | 99 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 13 | OS | Low |
| Yilin Li 2018/[58] | China | 115 | 60 | NA | III–IV | 2/6 | (DAPI, HER2, CEP8, and CD45 | SE-iFISH | 31 | Chemo | before and after treatment | 91 | NR | High |
| Yuji Mishima 2017/[59] | Japan | 118 | 65 | NA | NA | 5/10 | Cell search | 3D–IF-FISH, Cell Search | 24 | No treatment | Before treatment | 85 | OS, PFS | High |
| Dongmei Diao 2017/[60] | China | 41 | 61 | 83 | III-IV | 2/7.5 | Cell search | Cell Search | 48 | Chemo | Before treatment | 32 | NR | High |
| Xiumei Zheng 2017/[40] | China | 86 | 53 | 52 | I–IV | 2/5 | CK + /Vimentin − /CD45 − | ISET, IF | 13 | Chemo | Before treatment | 60 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Simon Pernot 2017/[61] | France | 132 | 53 | TNM | 2/7.5 | Cell Search | Cell Search | 24.9 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 80/51 | OS, PFS | Low | |
| YONGPING LIU 2017/[62] | China | 59 | 59 | 59 | III–IV | 2/5 | ck | IF | 23 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 83/61 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Daniel Brungs 2017/[63] | Australia | 43 | 64 | 74 | II-IV | 17/7.5 | Anti-EPCAM, anti-CD45, DAPI, CK | IsoFlux | NA | No treatment | Before treatment | 95 | OS | High |
| L. Zheng 2017/[64] | China | 60 | 60 | 60 | I–IV, TNM | NA | Size | ISET, Wright staining | 23 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 55 | NR | High |
| Hwa Mi Kang 2017/[65] | Korea | 116 | 60 | 64 | NA | 2/7.5 | CK/ EPCAM/CD45// DAPI | FAST disk | 12 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 85 | NR | High |
| Yilin Li 2016/ [66] | USA | 31 | 60 | 68 | TNM | 2/7.5 | DAPI, CD45, CK | SE-iFISH | 10 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 93/81 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Hiroaki Ito 2016/[67] | Japan | 65 | 59 | 70 | NA | 5/7.5 | Telomerase specific | Fluorescence intensity | 13 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 100 | OS, PFS | High |
| Dandan Yuan 2015/[68] | China | 31 | 62 | 68 | I–IV | NA | CD44, CD45 | FACS | NA | Chemo | Before treatment | 45 | NR | High |
| TORU WATANABE 2015/[69] | Japan | 25 | 73 | 65 | I–IV | 1/5 | EpCAM, CD44 | FACS | 9 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 92 | NR | High |
| Katarina Kolostova 2015/[70] | Poland | 22 | 69 | NA | I–IV | 4/8 | Cytokeratin-18, Cytokeratin-19, Cytokeratin-20, ytokeratin-7, EPCAM, MUC1, HER2, EGFR | Meta cell | NA | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 59 | NR | High |
| Yilin Li 2015/ [71] | China | 136 | 59 | 65 | TNM | 3.7/5 | Cell search | Cell search | 31.6 | Chemo | before and after treatment | 56/24 | OS, PFS | High |
| H. Okabe 2015/[72] | Japan | 136 | 67 | 51 | I–IV, TNM | 1.7/5 | Cell search | Cell search | 26 | Chemo | Before treatment | 18 | OS, PFS | low |
| Su Jin Lee 2015/[41] | Korea | 95 | 57 | 66 | NA | 5/7.5 | Cell search | Cell search | 8 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 45/31 | OS, PFS | High |
| Ting-Ting Li 2015/ [73] | China | 44 | 56 | 70 | I–IV | NA | Keratins 8, 18,19, epithelial cell adhesion molecule, Vimentin and Twist | CanPatrol TM system | 17 | Chemo | Before treatment | 80 | NR | Low |
| Kosei Toyoshima 2015/[74] | Japan | 42 | NA | 71 | I–IV | 3/7.5 | Cell search | Cell search | NA | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 67 | NR | High |
| Ilja Kubisch 2015/[75] | USA | 62 | 64 | 63 | III–IV | 1/7.5 | EPCAM, KRT19, MUC1, EPCAM, CEACAM5 and BIRC5 | Immunomagnetic dynabeads, RT-PCR | 17.2 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 70/85 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Study/(reference) | Region | Patient | Age | Male percent | Tumor Stage | CTC cutoff N/V(ML) | Target | Detection method | Follow-up duration months | Treatment | Sampling time | CTC incidence before/after treatment | Outcomes measured | Quality |
| Yilin Li 2014/[76] | China | 20 | NA | NA | IV | 4/7.5 | DAPI, CD45, CK | SE-iFISH, Cell Search | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 90 | NR | High | |
| Man Li 2014/[77] | China | 45 | 60 | 60 | I–IV | 1/10 | CK19, CD44, DAPI | Immunofluorescent | 30 | Chemo | Before treatment | 60 | NR | High |
| M Iwatsuki 2013/[78] | Japan | 34 | 57 | 73 | NA | NA | Cell search | Cell search | 48 | No treatment | Before treatment | 73 | NR | High |
| Yoshikazu Uenosono 2013/[79] | Japan | 148 | 64 | NA | I–IV | 1.7/5 | Cell search | Cell search | 31.6 | surgery | Before and after surgery | 60/10 | OS, PFS | Low |
| Hiroaki Ito 2012/[80] | Japan | 65 | 59 | 71 | I–IV | 5/7.5 | Telomerase specific | Fluorescence microscope | 20 | Surgery | Prior to surgery | 10/0 | NR | High |
| Satoshi Matsusaka 2009/[81] | Japan | 52 | 62 | 84 | NA | 4/7.5 | Cell search | Cell search | 29 | Chemo | Before and after treatment | 32/17 | OS, PFS | High |
N: Number; V: Volume; NR: not reported; HR: hazard ratio; OS: overall survival; PFS: progression-free survival; MSP: methylation-specific PCR; BGS: bisulfite genomic sequence; qMSP: quantitative methylation-specific PCR; NGS: next-generation sequencing; NA: Not Available