Teja M, Ocanto A, Couñago F. Circulating tumor cells in pancreatic cancer: The prognostic impact in surgical patients. World J Clin Oncol 2024; 15(8): 987-991 [PMID: 39193164 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i8.987]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Macarena Teja, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare-San Francisco de Asís University Hospital, C/Joaquín Costa 28, Madrid 28002, Spain. macarena.teja@genesiscare.es
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Aug 24, 2024; 15(8): 987-991 Published online Aug 24, 2024. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i8.987
Circulating tumor cells in pancreatic cancer: The prognostic impact in surgical patients
Macarena Teja, Abrahams Ocanto, Felipe Couñago
Macarena Teja, Abrahams Ocanto, Felipe Couñago, Department of Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare-San Francisco de Asís University Hospital, Madrid 28002, Spain
Macarena Teja, Abrahams Ocanto, Felipe Couñago, Department of Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare-Vithas La Milagrosa University Hospital, Madrid 28010, Spain
Felipe Couñago, National Director, GenesisCare Spain, Madrid 28043, Spain
Author contributions: Teja M contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Teja M, Ocanto A and Couñago F contributed to writing and editing the manuscript, review of the literature, and designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Macarena Teja, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare-San Francisco de Asís University Hospital, C/Joaquín Costa 28, Madrid 28002, Spain. macarena.teja@genesiscare.es
Received: May 15, 2024 Revised: June 27, 2024 Accepted: July 3, 2024 Published online: August 24, 2024 Processing time: 92 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is associated with a poor prognosis, even in the early stages, mainly due to metastatic progression. New diagnostic techniques that predict unfavorable outcomes are needed in order to improve treatment strategies. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are showing promising results as a predictive biomarker for various tumors. In this editorial we comment on the article by Zhang et al, who published the first systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the prognostic value of CTCs as biomarkers in early-stage pancreatic cancer patients undergoing surgery. CTCs were detected in peripheral or central venous system blood, before or during surgery. Positive CTCs showed a correlation with decreased overall survival and decreased relapse-free, disease-free and progression-free survival in this meta-analysis. However, the heterogeneity was significant. The authors suggest that this result was related to the separation methods used between studies, but other differences such as the margin status or the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatments used are also important to consider. CTCs may be a potential prognostic biomarker in pancreatic cancer patients, but it is necessary to compare and standardize the platforms used to isolate CTCs, to compare different biomarkers from liquid biopsy and to determine the impact on prognosis when therapeutic changes are made based on CTCs levels.
Core Tip: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are showing promising results in the diagnosis and monitoring of oncological patients. When detected before or during surgery in early-stage pancreatic cancer patients, a correlation with decreased overall survival, relapse-free, disease-free and progression-free survival has been demonstrated. However, there is an absence of homogeneity between the isolation platforms used that makes it necessary to compare them in order to introduce CTCs detection into clinical practice of pancreatic cancer.
