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PMID: 32017145 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells and Their Implications as a Biomarker for Diagnosis, Prognostication, and Therapeutic Monitoring in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) ·Vol. 73 ·No. 1 ·2021-00-00 ·Pages 422-436

Ahn JC, Teng PC, Chen PJ, Posadas E, Tseng HR, Lu SC, Yang JD

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the leading causes of worldwide cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Poor prognosis of HCC is attributed primarily to tumor presentation at an advanced stage when there is no effective treatment to achieve the long term survival of patients. Currently available tests such as alpha-fetoprotein have limited accuracy as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker for HCC. Liver biopsy provides tissue that can reveal tumor biology but it is not used routinely due to its invasiveness and risk of tumor seeding, especially in early-stage patients. Liver biopsy is also limited in revealing comprehensive tumor biology due to intratumoral heterogeneity. There is a clear need for new biomarkers to improve HCC detection, prognostication, prediction of treatment response, and disease monitoring with treatment. Liquid biopsy could be an effective method of early detection and management of HCC. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells in circulation derived from the original tumor or metastatic foci, and their measurement by liquid biopsy represents a great potential in facilitating the implementation of precision medicine in patients with HCC. CTCs can be detected by a simple peripheral blood draw and potentially show global features of tumor characteristics. Various CTC detection platforms using immunoaffinity and biophysical properties have been developed to identify and capture CTCs with high efficiency. Quantitative abundance of CTCs, as well as biological characteristics and genomic heterogeneity among the CTCs, can predict disease prognosis and response to therapy in patients with HCC. This review article will discuss the currently available technologies for CTC detection and isolation, their utility in the clinical management of HCC patients, their limitations, and future directions of research.

MeSH Terms
Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/blood,pathology Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule/analysis,metabolism Humans Liquid Biopsy/methods Liver Neoplasms/blood,pathology Neoplastic Cells, Circulating/metabolism Prognosis
Chemicals
Biomarkers, Tumor Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Ahn Joseph C
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Teng Pai-Chi
Urologic Oncology Program and Uro-Oncology Research Laboratories, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Chen Pin-Jung
Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, California NanoSystems Institute, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Posadas Edwin
Urologic Oncology Program and Uro-Oncology Research Laboratories, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States. | Translational Oncology Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States. | Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Tseng Hsian-Rong
Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, California NanoSystems Institute, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Lu Shelly C
Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. | Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Yang Ju Dong
Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. | Comprehensive Transplant Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. | Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
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Article Info
Journal
Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.)
Abbr.
Hepatology
ISSN
1527-3350
DOI
10.1002/hep.31165
Published
2021-00-00
Epub
2021-00-18
Pages
422-436
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8302946
PMCID
PMC8183673
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA172086 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · R21 CA235340 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · P01 CA233452 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA253651 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA246304 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1002/hep.31165 PMC Full Text View journal details
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