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Background Tumor initiating cells are a small subset of cancer cells responsible for tumor growth and recurrence. The status of tumor initiating cells was measured using the surface markers CD133 (prominin-1) and ESA (epithelial-specific antigen). The aims of this study were to investigate the significance of CD133+/ESA+ cells in mesenteric venous blood (MVB) and tumor mass (TM) for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients undergoing curative resection. Materials and methods A total of 229 CRC patients undergoing curative resection were prospectively enrolled in the study. Using CD133 and ESA as surface markers, CD133+/ESA+ cells were enumerated from MVB and TM using flow cytometry. Results We analyzed the presence of CD133+/ESA+ cells in TM from 158 patients and found no correlation to patient DFS, OS, or clinical stage. In 135 patients, an analysis of CD133+/ESA+ cells in MVB showed an inverse correlation with both DFS and OS (P = 0.014 and P = 0.008, respectively). It exhibited an increase-then-decrease pattern with the peak in stage II patients. A multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that the status of CD133+/ESA+ cells in MVB, but not the TM, was a significant prognostic factor for DFS and OS (P = 0.003 and P = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions The status of CD133+/ESA+ cells in MVB, but not in TM, could be a useful indicator for predicting tumor recurrence and a prognostic marker for CRC patients.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be detected in the blood of different types of early or advanced cancer using immunology-based assays or nucleic acid methods. The detection and quantification of CTCs has significant clinical utility in the prognosis of metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. CTCs are a heterogeneous population of cells and often different from those of their respective primary tumor. Understanding the biology of CTCs may provide useful predictive information for the selection of the most appropriate treatment. Therefore, CTC detection and characterization could become a valuable tool to refine prognosis and serve as a “real-time biopsy” and has the potential to guide precision cancer therapies, monitor cancer treatment, and investigate the process of metastasis.

Our previous studies showed that colorectal tumor has high interleukin-4 receptor α (IL-4Rα) expression, whereas adjacent normal tissue has low or no IL-4Rα expression. We also observed that human atherosclerotic plaque-specific peptide-1 (AP1) can specifically target to IL-4Rα. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy and systemic toxicity of AP1-conjuagted liposomal doxorubicin. AP1 bound more strongly to and was more efficiently internalized into IL-4Rα-overexpressing CT26 cells than CT26 control cells. Selective cytotoxicity experiment revealed that AP1-conjugated liposomal doxorubicin preferentially killed IL-4Rα-overexpressing CT26 cells. AP1-conjugated liposomal doxorubicin administered intravenously into mice produced significant inhibition of tumor growth and showed decreased cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin. These results indicated that AP1-conjugated liposomal doxorubicin has a potent and selective anticancer potential against IL-4Rα-overexpressing colorectal cancer cells, thus providing a model for targeted anticancer therapy.

Colorectal polyps are generally believed to be the precursors of colorectal cancers (CRC); however, the proportion and speed of progression differed widely in different subsets of polyps. Using microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) platform and CD133 immunostaining, we characterized colon polyps according to their association with CRC that developed in the same individual. aCGH was performed to unveil genomic changes in 18 cancer-synchronous polyps (CSP), and 9 cancer-preceding polyps (CPP), together with their corresponding cancers and 16 cases of incidental polyps (IP), were examined for comparison. aCGH profiles were analyzed to determine the clonal relationship (CR) between the paired adenoma and carcinoma. CD133 expressions in each subset of polyps were quantified by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Progressive genomic changes were observed from IP, CSP/CPP to CRC; they encompass an entire chromosomal region in IP and sub-chromosomal region in CSP/CPP and CRC. CR analyses demonstrated that 50 % of CSP and 67 % of CPP were clonally related to the concurrent or later developed carcinomas, respectively. The CD133 expression levels were significantly higher in CSP/CPP than those in IP (P

Purpose: Metastasis is the major cause of death in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are believed to cause metastasis and serve as a prognostic marker for mortality in clinical stage IV patients. However, most studies are conducted in late-stage cases when distant metastases have already occurred; thus, such results provide limited clinical use. This study focused on whether CTCs can predict the risk of metastasis after treatment of the primary tumor in early-stage patients with CRC. Experimental Design: CTCs were quantified using EpCAM-positive/CD45-negative immunoselection and flow cytometry in patients with CRC. A mouse model was used to investigate the mechanistic roles of CTCs and interleukin (IL)-17A in metastasis. Results: The number of mesenteric CTCs obtained from stage II patients was higher than that obtained from patients in stages I, III, and IV. In addition, following invasion of orthotopically implanted tumors in our mouse model, we found that CTCs exhibited an increase-then-decrease pattern, accompanied by corresponding changes in serum IL-17A levels and opposing changes in serum granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) levels. Ablation of IL-17A and administration of rGM-CSF effectively suppressed the increase in CTCs and prevented metastasis in mice. Moreover, IL-17A promoted cancer cell motility, matrix digestion, and angiogenesis, whereas GM-CSF stimulated the elimination of CTCs by boosting host immunity. Notably, serum levels of IL-17A were also correlated with disease-free survival in patients with CRC. Conclusions: Our results showed that CTCs and IL-17A could serve as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for CRC metastasis. Clin Cancer Res; 20(11); 2885–97. ©2014 AACR.

Background: It is thought that each cell only generates a unifocal lineage that is independent from one another in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma progression. This study compared the genome-wide copy number aberration profiles of adenoma and primary colorectal carcinomas (CRCs) derived from the same patient to trace their clonality relationship. The CD133 positive cells, putative colorectal cancer stem cells, are capable of tumor initiation and metastasis. Therefore, we also investigated the use of CD133 expression as a potential marker for prediction of subsequent risk of colorectal cancer. Methods: Microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) experiments were performed on 18 cancer-synchronous polyps (CSP) and 9 cancer-preceding polyps (CPP), together with their corresponding cancers, and 16 cases of incidental polyps (IP). Genome-wide copy number imbalances revealed by aCGH were analyzed to determine the clonal relationship between the paired adenomas and carcinomas. CD133 expression in cancerous tissue was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Results: There were more CGH lesions in CRC than CSP/CPP, and least in IP. Clonal relationship determined by tissues' aCGH profiles showed that 50 percent of CSP and 67 percent of CPP were clonally related to the concurrent or subsequent cancers, respectively. The expression level of stem cell marker CD133 was significantly higher in CSP/CPP than in IP (P Conclusions: In the present study more than half of the polyp-carcinoma pairs share highly similar pattern of numerical chromosomal aberrations implying that the pairs might descent from the same monoclonal cell origin. The high expression of stem cell marker CD133 in colorectal adenomas is predictive of high cancer risk for polyp-bearing patients. Citation Format: Chih-Yung Yang, Ju-Yu Tseng, Chi-Hung Lin. Implications of clonality relationship and CD133 expression between cancer synchronous/preceding adenomas and their colorectal adenocarcinoma pairs. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5176. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5176

Despite the growing public awareness and recent progress in multimodality therapy to the colorectal cancer (CRC), CRC still ranks high on the list of the most common and deadly cancers in the worldwide. The cause of CRC mortality is due mainly to the occurrence of distant metastasis, upon which the circulating tumor cells (CTCs), is thought to play an active role. CTCs could serve as a prognostic marker for mortality in clinical stage IV patients; however, the prognostic value of CTCs in early-stage patients remains uncertain. Here, we used EpCAM-postive/CD45-negative immunoselection and flow-cytometry to identify and quantify CTCs in CRC patients. The number of mesenteric CTCs obtained from stage II patients was higher than those obtained for patients with stages I, III, or IV CRC. To explore the mechanisms underlying this clinical observation, we established an orthotopic (intra-cecal) tumor growth and metastasis mouse model. Cancer progression was monitored in real time with tumor cells expressing luciferase and GFP tag by using a bioluminescence imaging system and flow cytometery. We noticed that CTC dynamics was associated with a corresponding change in serum interleukin (IL)-17A and an opposing change in serum GM-CSF. Ablation of IL-17A by neutralizing antibodies and administration of GM-CSF effectively diminished the rise of CTCs and prevented metastasis in the mouse model. GM-CSF was through to help eliminating CTCs by boost host immunity, whereas IL-17A affected cancer cells intravasation by promoting cancer cell motility, matrix digestion and angiogenesis. We also noticed that IL-17 depletion could increase CD8+ to CD4+CD25+ ratio that might help CTCs clearance. In CRC patients, serum levels of IL-17A positively correlated with the number of mesenteric CTCs and the patients' disease-free survival. Our results show that CTCs and IL-17A can serve not only as prognostic markers, but also therapeutic targets for CRC metastasis. Citation Format: Ju-Yu Tseng, Chih-Yung Yang, Jeng-Kai Jiang, Chi-Hung Lin. Dynamic changes and regulation of circulating tumor cells that govern the metastasis of colorectal cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2039. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2039