ArticleBMC cancer2025
Circulating tumor cells and clusters as liquid biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of neuroblastoma.
Article in BMC cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cascading inertial microfluidics for high-throughput, multi-scale enrichment of tumor cells and intact clusters towards enhanced malignancy diagnosis.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Article
- Potential clinical value of circulating tumor cells in predicting progression for atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor in young children.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- Detection of circulating hybrid cells and circulating tumor cells in cerebrospinal fluid for leptomeningeal metastasis diagnosis and therapeutic prediction.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Article
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30 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe clinical significance of circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters in highly metastatic tumors hasn't yet been revealed. Here, we demonstrated the diagnostic and prognostic value of CTC clusters in neuroblastoma (NB) which is the most prevalent childhood extracranial solid tumor.
methodsWe employed cascaded filter deterministic lateral displacement microfluidic chips to enrich CTCs and CTC clusters in 64 newly diagnosed NB patients. CTCs and CTC clusters were identified by CD45-, GD2+/PHOX2B+, DAPI + immunofluorescence staining, with cells displaying characteristic neoplastic morphology.
resultsAmong NB patients, 85.94% and 50.00% were positive for CTCs and CTC clusters, respectively; no CTCs or CTC clusters were detected in healthy children. Moreover, CTC and CTC cluster numbers differed significantly across different primary sites, clinical and pathologic features, and risk stratifications, while no significant differences in CTC and CTC cluster counts were observed in relation to sex, age, and MYCN gene amplification. CTCs and CTC clusters indicated metastasis and strongly correlated with minimal residual disease. Of note, CTC clusters ≥ 2.5/2 mL were closely associated with bone marrow metastasis and demonstrated significant differences in the hazard ratio of overall survival.
conclusionsCTCs and CTC clusters are sensitive non-invasive biomarkers for NB diagnosis and prognosis, especially the prominent role in tumor emergencies. CTC clusters closely correlate with bone marrow metastasis and represent promising indicator for the monitoring of metastasis in NB emergencies. The mechanisms of CTC cluster formation and their specific role in the metastasis cascade deserve further elucidation which may serve as targets to inhibit NB bone marrow metastasis.
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