Högskolan i Skövde

Objective: To combine circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation by filtration and immunohistochemistry to investigate the presence of CTCs in low, intermediate, and high-risk prostate cancer (PCa). CTCs isolated from these risk groups stained positive for both cytokeratin and androgen receptors, but negative for CD45.

Patients and methods: Blood samples from 41 biopsy confirmed patients with PCa at different clinical stages such as low, intermediate, and high risk were analyzed. The samples were processed with the ScreenCell filtration device and PCa CTCs were captured for all patients. The isolated CTCs were confirmed PCa CTCs by the presence of androgen receptors and cytokeratins 8, 18, and 19 that occurred in the absence of CD45 positivity. PCa CTC nuclear sizes were measured using the TeloView program.

Results: The filtration-based isolation method used permitted the measurement of the average nuclear size of the captured CTCs. CTCs were identified by immunohistochemistry in low, intermediate, and high-risk groups of patients with PCa.

Conclusion: CTCs may be found in all stages of PCa. These CTCs can be used to determine the level of genomic instability at any stage of PCa; this will, in the future, enable personalized patient management.