Preoperative circulating tumor cells to predict microvascular invasion and dynamical detection indicate the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: BMC cancer Vol. 20; no. 1; p. 1047
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jiangmin, Zhang, Zhiwei, Zhou, Honghao, Leng, Chao, Hou, Bingwu, Zhou, Chenyang, Hu, Xinsheng, Wang, Jinlin, Chen, Xiaoping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 31-10-2020; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biopsy; Blood clots; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - surgery; Cell adhesion & migration; Circulating tumor cells; Extrahepatic metastasis; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hepatectomy; Hepatectomy - methods; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Humans; Isolation by size of epithelial tumor cells; Liver cancer; Liver diseases; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Liver Neoplasms - surgery; Male; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Methods; Microvascular invasion; Microvasculature; Microvessels - pathology; Middle Aged; Multivariate analysis; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - pathology; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - surgery; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating - pathology; Patients; Peripheral blood; Prognosis; Risk Factors; Surgery; Survival Rate; Tumor cells; Veins & arteries; Young Adult; α-Fetoprotein; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Extrahepatic metastasis; Circulating tumor cells; Isolation by size of epithelial tumor cells; Microvascular invasion; Hepatectomy
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/s12885-020-07488-8

This study explored the diagnostic power of preoperative circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for the presence of microvascular invasion (MVI) and the relationship between dynamic changes in postoperative CTCs and prognosis.
A total of 137 patients were recruited for the study. Preoperative blood samples were collected from all patients to detect CTCs. The time points for blood collection were before the operation, during the operation, and at 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery. The predictive power of CTC count for the presence of MVI was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. According to recurrence status, 137 patients were divided into three groups: no recurrence, early recurrence, and non-early recurrence groups.
A threshold CTC count of 5 showed the most significant power for predicting the existence of MVI. In multivariate analysis, the parameters of preoperative CTC count, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and tumor diameter were independent predictors of MVI (P <  0.05). A CTC count greater than or equal to 5 had better predictive value than AFP > 400 μg/L and tumor diameter > 5 cm. The number of intraoperative CTCs in the three groups did not increase compared to that before surgery (P > 0.05). The number of CTCs in the nonrecurrence group and the non-early recurrence group decreased significantly 1 week after surgery compared with the intraoperative values (P <  0.001), although there was no significant difference in the early recurrence group (P = 0.95). Patients with mean CTC count ≥5 had significantly worse long-term outcomes than those with mean CTC count < 5 (P <  0.001).
The preoperative CTC counts in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC are closely correlated with MVI. The intraoperative manipulation of the lesion by the surgeon does not increase the number of CTCs in peripheral blood. Surgical removal of the tumor decreases the number of CTCs. The persistence of CTCs at a high level (≥ 5) after surgery suggests a risk of early recurrence.
Registration number is ChiCTR-OOC-16010183 , date of registration is 2016-12-18.