Abstract 1583: Circulating tumor cells isolated from non-small cell lung cancer patients using the in vivo CellCollector Technology

Abstract

Abstract Access to tumor tissue is often limiting and archival samples may not be reflective of the current disease. Alternative approaches using liquid biopsies are being explored to support personalized treatment of cancer patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detached from primary tumors or metastases into the blood may reflect the current molecular tumor profile providing the opportunity to monitor molecular changes in the tumor. As CTCs are rare cells in the bloodstream and most in vitro approaches for capturing CTCs are based on small samples volumes (5 - 10 ml), accurate and reliable quantification of CTCs is difficult to achieve. We report on a comprehensive clinical study using a novel CellCollectorTM for in vivo isolation of CTCs. Eighty four stage I - IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and 7 healthy individuals were screened for CTCs using a CellCollectorTM (Gilupi, Germany) device. Molecular analysis of a patient with known mutation in the KRAS gene (G12D) was performed to confirm the predictive value of CTCs as “liquid biopsy”. CTCs were detected in 65 out of 84 NSCLC patients (77.4%) (median: 13 CTCs; range from 0 - 300). For comparison, using the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared CellSearch® system only fifteen samples (17.8%) in this cohort were positive (median: 0 CTCs; range from 0-300). In all paired samples, the CellCollectorTM detected the same or higher numbers of CTCs. Healthy individuals were devoid of any cells classified as CTC. Investigating the KRAS status on CTCs captured by the CellCollectorTM, we were able to substantiate the G12D mutation that has earlier on been identified in the tissue of the primary lung tumor.Conclusions: The CellCollectorTM is a promising novel device for the in vivo isolation of CTCs and the device effectively isolated CTCs from NSCLC patients of all stages including the non-metastatic setting. The implementation of the CellColletorTM into clinical practice has the potential for early disease detection. Furthermore, this approach allows the molecular characterization of CTCs for possible therapeutic targets and early response to treatment which might be used in the setting of personalized cancer therapies and clinical development. Citation Format: Thomas Krahn, Lukasz Gasiorowski, Wojciech Dyszkiewicz, Grzegorz Dworacki, Maciej Zabel, Dave S. Hoon, Stefanie Herold, Bjoern Nowack, Johannes Tucholsky, Christian Schumann, Klaus Lücke. Circulating tumor cells isolated from non-small cell lung cancer patients using the in vivo CellCollector Technology. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1583. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1583