A prospective examination of circulating tumor cell profiles in non-small-cell lung cancer molecular subgroups

We report the first study examining the clinical, numerical and biological properties of circulating tumor cells according to molecular subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer. 125 patients with treatment-naïve stage IIIb-IV NSCLC were prospectively recruited for CellSearch analysis. Anti-vimentin antibody was included for examination of CTCs to assess their mesenchymal character. Associations of total CTCs and vimentin-positive (vim+) CTCs with clinical characteristics, tumor genotype, and survival were assessed. 51/125 patients (40.8%) were total CTC+and 26/125 (20.8%) were vim CTC+at baseline. Multivariate analysis showed patients with≥5 total CTCs had significantly reduced OS (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33–0.92, P = 0.022) but not PFS (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.42–1.1, P = 0.118) compared to patients with