Circulating Tumor Cells as Biomarker for Minimal Residual Disease in Prostate Cancer-Induced Bone Diseases

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) have been verified as prognostic markers for disease progression in various cancer types.

Partners

France: University Medical Centre of Montpellier
Greece: University of Athens, Department of Analytical Chemistry
Austria: Medical University of Graz, Institute for Cell Biology, Histology and Embryology
Poland: Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Department of Histology and Embryology
Germany: GILUPI GmbH
USA, Raritan: Janssen Diagnostics, LLC

This project is aimed to validate the number of CTCs isolated from patient’s blood as a prognostic marker for relapse in high-risk prostate cancer (PCA) patients treated with primary radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy. CTC isolation and enumeration will be realized by three different assay formats in comparison.


•Isolation of CTCs from blood samples using CellSearch® as the current “gold standard” for CTC detection,
•EPISPOT assay that detects viable CTCs and
•GILUPI nanodetector that captures CTCs in vivo.
The isolated CTCs will be further characterized by molecular techniques. The numbers of CTCs detected by each assay will be compared to PSA serum levels as the gold standard biomarker in PCA and to clinical outcome to identify the CTC detection assay(s) with the best prognostic value.

The systematic approach chosen in this project will validate CTC detection as a novel biomarker for predicting clinical outcome in PCA patients. A validated procedure for CTC detection and characterization will improve risk assessment and contribute to a better stratification of PCA patients to future adjuvant therapies adjusted to the individual risk of each cancer patient.