Clinical significance of Ki67 and circulating tumor cells with an epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype in non-small cell lung cancer.
Huajian Peng, Xiang Tan, Yongyong Wang, Lei Dai, Guanbiao Liang, Jianji Guo, Mingwu Chen
Abstract
CTC enrichment method, and the expression of Ki67 in tumor tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Almost two-thirds (61/84) of the patients were positive for CTC EMT, and 55 (65.4%) patients had high in-situ expression of Ki67 (≥ 14%) in the tumor tissues. CTC EMT was not significantly associated with tumor size and differentiation, age, gender and histological type, but correlated with lymphatic metastasis, tumor stage and Ki67 overexpression. Furthermore, the CTC EMT+ NSCLC patients had a significantly lower recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) compared to the negative patients. Similarly, Ki67 levels ≥ 14% were associated with a significantly lower RFS and OS. In conclusion, CTC EMT is significantly related to Ki67 expression, and is a risk factor of NSCLC.