Assessment of Circulating Tumor Cells as a Predictive Biomarker of Histology in Women with Suspected Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Background The clinical assessment of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as a blood-based biomarker is FDA-approved for use in breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. The objective of this prospective clinical study was to determine whether pretreatment CTCs are a useful diagnostic biomarker in women with complex pelvic masses. Methods Whole blood was collected from 49 women with newly diagnosed pelvic masses. The presence of CTCs was compared between women with and without ovarian cancer histopathologic diagnosis after surgery using a Chi-squared test. Results CTCs were absent in those with benign disease (0/14), present in 17% (5/29) of patients with a histologic diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma, and present in 80% (4/5) of patients with ovarian metastases from other cancers (P = 0.001). All 5 women with ovarian cancer who had CTCs present presented stage III or IV of the disease (P = 0.13). Conclusions CTCs were more prevalent in patients with metastases to the ovary than in primary ovarian carcinomas.