Abstract
Objective: The primary objective of this project is to determine if circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are identifiable in peripheral blood from patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using a commercially available semi-automated technique.
Method: Prior to treatment, adult patients with advanced Head and Neck Squmous Cell Carcinoma had whole peripheral blood drawn and analyzed using the CellSearch Epithelial CTC kit. The target molecules of the system include EpCAM and cytokeratins 8, 18, and 19.
Results: There was a total of 18 patients with additional positive and negative controls. The average age was 65 years and 61% of the population was female. Primary tumor sites were varied with 39% laryngeal, 33% pharyngeal, 22% oral cavity, and 6% cutaneous. The majority of patients, 78%, had stage IV disease at the time of evaluation. The positive control, SCC-1483, identified over 305 CTCs. There were no CTCs identified in clinical samples.
Conclusion: HNSCC cells are detectable using the CellSeach system, as evidenced by the positive control. Despite testing a population with advanced disease, the system failed to detect a CTC in a clinical sample. Therefore, the system is not a sensitive technique for identifying CTCs in HNSCC.
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