Vimentin-Positive Circulating Tumor Cells as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Patients with Biliary Tract Cancer

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) has poor prognosis
thus, early diagnosis is important to decrease mortality. Although vimentin-positive circulating tumor cells (V-CTCs) are a good candidate for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, studies on the topic are limited. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of V-CTCs between BTC and benign biliary disease (BBD) and determine the prognostic value of V-CTCs in BTC patients. We recruited 69 participants who had BTCs and BBDs from a single tertiary referral center. We analyzed CTCs and V-CTCs in peripheral blood using the CD-PRIMETM system. Seven patients were excluded due to a technical failure of CTC detection. CTCs were detected in all 62 patients. CTC count &gt
40/mL blood (55.8% vs. 20%, p = 0.039), V-CTC count &gt
15/mL blood (57.7% vs. 10%, p = 0.005), and V-CTC/CTC ratio &gt
40% (48.1% vs. 10%, p = 0.025) were significantly different between BTCs and BBDs. Two or more of these three parameters (61.5% vs. 10%, p = 0.002) increased the accuracy. A combination of CTC markers with CA19-9 and biopsy increased the accuracy (90.4% vs. 10%, p = 0.000). V-CTC &gt
50/mL blood was a significant factor affecting survival (140 (66.6–213.3) vs. 253 (163.9–342.1) days, p = 0.008). V-CTC could be a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and predicting prognosis in patients with BTC.