Comparison of circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection rates with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cell surface vimentin (CSV) antibodies in different solid tumors: a retrospective study

Purpose: Status of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) varies from tumors to tumors. Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cell surface vimentin (CSV) are the most common used targets for isolating epithelial and mesenchymal CTCs, respectively. This study aimed to identify a suitable CTC capturing antibody for CTC enrichment in each solid tumor by comparing CTC detection rates with EpCAM and CSV antibodies in different solid tumors. Methods: Treatment-naive patients with confirmed cancer diagnosis and healthy people who have performed CTC detection between April 2017 and May 2018 were included in this study. CTC detection was performed with CytoSorter (R) CTC system using either EpCAM or CSV antibody. In total, 853 CTC results from 690 cancer patients and 72 healthy people were collected for analysis. The performance of CTC capturing antibody was determined by the CTC detection rate. Results: EpCAM has the highest CTC detection rate of 84.09% in CRC, followed by BCa (78.32%). CTC detection rates with EpCAM antibody are less than 40% in HCC (25%), PDAC (32.5%) and OC (33.33%). CSV has the highest CTC detection rate of 90% in sarcoma, followed by BC (85.71%), UC (84.62%), OC (83.33%) and BCa (81.82%). CTC detection rates with CSV antibody are over 60% in all 14 solid tumors. Except for CRC, CSV has better performances than EpCAM in most solid tumors regarding the CTC detection rates. Conclusion: EpCAM can be used as a target to isolate CTCs in CRC, LC, GC, BCa, EC, HNSCC, CC and PCa, especially in CRC, while CSV can be used in most solid tumors for isolating CTCs.