Table 2.
Prognostic significance of CTCs in various cancer types based on published data from meta-analysis of CTC prognostic studies between 2010 and 2019
| Type of cancer | No. of studies (patients included) | Detection method | Prognostic parameter | HR/RR/OR (95% CI) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorectal cancer | 20 (3687) | RT-PCR, CellSearch, Epispot, CMx platform | Aggressive disease progression | 2.57 (1.64–4.02) | [118] |
| Reduced survival | 2.41 (1.66–3.51) | ||||
| 15 (3129) | RT-PCR, CellSearch, flow cytometry, membrane array | Mortality | 2.36 (1.87–2.97) | [119] | |
| Aggressive disease progression | 1.83 (1.42–2.36) | ||||
| 12 (2363) | RT-PCR | Overall survival | 3.07 (2.05–4.62) | [120] | |
| Disease-free survival | 2.58 (2.00–3.32) | ||||
| 11 (1847) | CellSearch | Overall survival | 2.00 (1.49–2.69) | [121] | |
| Disease-free survival | 1.80 (1.52–2.13) | ||||
| Breast cancer | 21 (2030) | CellSearch | Overall survival | 0.19 (0.10–0.31) | [122] |
| Distant disease-free survival | 0.25 (0.16–0.38) | ||||
| Loco-regional relapse-free interval | 0.49 (0.29–0.80) | ||||
| 4 (334) | HER2 + CTC detected by CellSearch, Veridex, RT-PCR | Overall survival in patients without metastasis | 2.27 (1.34–3.85) | [96] | |
| Progression-free survival in patients without metastasis | 2.87 (1.30–6.34) | ||||
| 49 (6825) | CellSearch, RT-PCR, other ICC | Disease-free survival (early stage) | 2.86 (2.19–3.75) | [123] | |
| Overall survival (early stage) | 2.78 (2.22–3.48) | ||||
| Progression-free survival (breast cancer with metastasis) | 1.78 (1.52–2.09) | ||||
| Overall survival (breast cancer with metastasis) | 1.78 (1.52–2.09) | ||||
| Lung cancer | 27 (2615) | RT-PCR, ISET, CellSearch | Overall survival (pre-treatment) | 2.61 (1.82–3.74) | [124] |
| Overall survival (post-treatment) | 4.19 (2.92–6.00) | ||||
| Progression-free survival (pre-treatment) | 2.01 (1.24–3.25) | ||||
| Progression-free survival (post-treatment) | 4.97 (3.05–8.11) | ||||
| 8 (453) | OBP-401 assay, quantitative RT-PCR, FISH, CellSearch, Cytelligen | Disease control rate (pre-treatment) | 2.56 (1.36–4.82) | [125] | |
| Disease control rate (during chemotherapy) | 9.08 (3.44–23.98) | ||||
| Objective response rate (during chemotherapy) | 1.72 (1.27–2.32) | ||||
| Pancreatic cancer | 13 (855) | Immunodetection, RT-PCR, CellSearch | Overall survival | 1.84 (1.37–2.45) | [126] |
| Disease-free survival | 1.93 (1.19–3.11) | ||||
| Prostate cancer | 33 (4170) | Immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, CellSearch | Overall survival | 2.43 (2.07–2.86) | [127] |
| Disease-free survival | 2.15 (1.69–2.73) | ||||
| 10 (1206) | Immunodetection | Overall survival | 2.76 (2.28–3.34) | [128] | |
| 4 (486) | Immunomagnetic detection | Overall survival | 2.51 (1.96–3.21) | [103] | |
| Gastric cancer | 16 (1110) | CellSearch, ICC, FACS-ICC, MetaCell ICS, flow cytometry | Overall survival | 2.23 (1.86–2.66) | [129] |
| Progression-free survival | 2.02 (1.36–2.99) | ||||
| Esophageal cancer | 18 (1719) | RT-PCR, CellSearch, Immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, immunomagnetic enrichment | Progression-free survival | 2.61 (2.08–3.28) | [130] |
| Overall survival | 2.50 (2.12–2.94) | ||||
| Relapse | 2.84 (1.81–4.44) | ||||
| Chemotherapy response | 0.64 (0.43–0.96) | ||||
| Head-and-neck cancer | 6 (429) | RT-PCR, CellSearch, ICC, flow cytometry | Recurrence-free survival | 4.88 (1.93–12.35) | [131] |
CTC circulating tumor cell, HR hazard ratio, OR odds ratio, RR risk ratio, RT-PCR real-time polymerase chain reaction, ICC immunocytochemistry, ISET isolation by size of tumor cells, FISH fluorescence in situ hybridization, FACS florescence activated cell sorting