Detection of Circulating Gastrointestinal Cancer Cells in Conditionally Reprogrammed Cell Culture

Abstract

Background/aim: The aim of this study was to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC) in the peripheral blood of gastrointestinal cancer patients using conditionally reprogrammed cell (CRC) culture.

Materials and methods: We confirmed the sensitivity of the CRC culture method. Five ml of blood were obtained from 81 cancer patients (56 colorectal and 25 gastric). The collected mononuclear cells were cultured for 4 weeks in the CRC condition. Finally, cultured cells were characterized by RT-PCR for the expression of hTERT and MAGE A1-6 mRNA.

Results: The CRC method had a CTC detection limit of 6 cells for gastric cancer cells. After culture of 81 blood specimens, 38 formed visible cells, including 5 colonies. Among the 38 cells, 13 were hTERT positive and 4 were MAGE A1-6 positive. The final CTC detection rate was 16.0%.

Conclusion: The CRC culture may potentially be used to evaluate the metastatic cancer cells in the circulation.