Table 1.
Relationship of perioperative total CTCs, mesenchymal CTC, CTC-WBC, and clinical characteristics. CTCs: circulating tumor cells; WBC: white blood cells; TNM: tumor, node, metastasis; n: case number; p: statistical value.
| Clinical parameters | n | Total CTC | Mesenchymal CTC | CTC-WBC | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presurgery | Postsurgery | Presurgery | Postsurgery | Presurgery | Postsurgery | ||||||||
| CTC < 6 | CTC ≥ 6 | CTC < 6 | CTC ≥ 6 | Negative | Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | Positive | ||
| Age | |||||||||||||
| <50 | 32 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 9 | 23 | 13 | 19 | 28 | 4 | 29 | 3 |
| ≥50 | 99 | 45 | 54 | 55 | 44 | 42 | 57 | 41 | 58 | 88 | 11 | 85 | 14 |
| p | 0.633 | 0.81 | 0.149 | 0.937 | 0.76 | 0.762 | |||||||
| Sex | |||||||||||||
| Male | 83 | 35 | 48 | 44 | 39 | 37 | 46 | 30 | 53 | 70 | 13 | 69 | 14 |
| Female | 48 | 23 | 25 | 28 | 20 | 14 | 34 | 24 | 24 | 46 | 2 | 45 | 3 |
| p | 0.523 | 0.555 | 0.081 | 0.121 | 0.051 | 0.107 | |||||||
| Pathological subtypes | |||||||||||||
| Clear-cell carcinoma | 113 | 52 | 61 | 60 | 53 | 47 | 66 | 45 | 68 | 100 | 13 | 98 | 15 |
| Others | 18 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 2 |
| p | 0.314 | 0.283 | 0.11 | 0.41 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Differentiation | |||||||||||||
| Low | 22 | 7 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 21 | 1 |
| Middle | 102 | 48 | 54 | 57 | 45 | 41 | 61 | 42 | 60 | 92 | 10 | 88 | 14 |
| High | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| p | 0.446 | 0.38 | 0.79 | 0.29 | 0.248 | 0.189 | |||||||
| TNM stage | |||||||||||||
| T1 | 112 | 52 | 60 | 63 | 49 | 43 | 69 | 45 | 67 | 99 | 13 | 97 | 15 |
| T2 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 2 |
| T3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| p | 0.327 | 0.39 | 0.37 | 0.45 | 0.811 | 1 | |||||||
| Types of surgery | |||||||||||||
| Nephron-sparing surgery | 79 | 35 | 44 | 51 | 28 | 27 | 52 | 34 | 45 | 68 | 11 | 68 | 11 |
| Radical excision | 52 | 23 | 29 | 21 | 31 | 24 | 28 | 20 | 32 | 48 | 4 | 46 | 6 |
| p | 0.993 | 0.007 | 0.16 | 0.60 | 0.273 | 0.691 | |||||||
| Renal score | |||||||||||||
| Low risk | 28 | 12 | 16 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 24 | 4 | 24 | 4 |
| Middle risk | 72 | 32 | 40 | 42 | 30 | 31 | 41 | 32 | 40 | 63 | 9 | 66 | 6 |
| High risk | 31 | 14 | 17 | 13 | 18 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 22 | 29 | 2 | 24 | 7 |
| p | 0.983 | 0.243 | 0.23 | 0.28 | 0.576 | 0.126 | |||||||
Fluorescence microscopy images show three types of CTCs with positive expression of epithelial markers (EpCAM and CK8/18/19, red dots), biphenotypic markers (red dots and green dots), and mesenchymal markers (Vimentin and Twist, green dots). CTC-WBC was characterized as DAPI + CD45 + epithelial + and/or mesenchymal+. Scale bar = 10 μm. EMT: epithelial-mesenchymal transition; CTC: circulating tumor cells; WBC: white blood cell; ISH: in situ hybridization.