Abstract

The incidence of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare and highly metastatic skin malignancy, has sharply increased in the last decade. Clinical biomarkers are urgently needed for MCC prognosis, treatment response monitoring, and early diagnosis of relapse. The clinical interest of circulating tumors cells (CTCs) has been validated in many solid cancers. The aim of this study was to compare CTC detection and characterization in blood samples of patients with MCC using the CellSearch System and the RosetteSep -DEPArray workflow, an innovative procedure to enrich, detect and isolate single CTCs. In preliminary experiments (using spiked MCC cell lines) both methods allowed detecting very few MCC cells. In blood samples from 19 patients with MCC at different stages, CellSearch detected MCC CTCs in 26% of patients, and the R-D workflow in 42% of patients. The detection of CTC-positive patients increased to 52% by the cumulative positivity rate of both methodologies. Moreover, Merkel cell polyomavirus DNA, involved in MCC oncogenesis, was detected in tumor biopsies, but not in all single CTCs from the same patient, reflecting the tumor heterogeneity. Our data demonstrate the possibility to detect, isolate and characterize CTCs in patients with MCC using two complementary approaches.

Details

Title
Circulating Tumor Cell Detection and Polyomavirus Status in Merkel Cell Carcinoma
Author
Boyer, Magali 1 ; Cayrefourcq Laure 1 ; Garima Françoise 1 ; Foulongne Vincent 2 ; Dereure Olivier 3 ; Alix-Panabières Catherine 1 

 University Medical Centre of Montpellier, Laboratory of Rare Human Circulating Cells, Montpellier, France (GRID:grid.466732.2) 
 University of Montpellier, INSERM, EFS, University Medical Centre, Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic Infections, Montpellier, France (GRID:grid.121334.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 0141) 
 University Medical Centre of Montpellier and INSERM 1058 Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic Infections University of Montpellier, Department of Dermatology, Montpellier, France (GRID:grid.121334.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 0141) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2349174610
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.