Prognostic significance of circulating tumor cell measurement in the peripheral blood of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective: Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) is lethal cancer. Typically, relapse and metastasis are the outcomes of most patients. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) profiles and clinicopathological features in patients with NPC. Patients and methods: A total of 119 blood samples from 79 patients were collected from patients with NPC during treatment. CanPatrolTM CTC enrichment and RNA In Situ Hybridization (RNA-ISH) were used to characterize CTCs, including epithelial, Mesenchymal (MCTCs), and epithelial/mesenchymal mixed types according to their surface markers. Results: The number of CTCs and MCTCs in the pre-treatment group was significantly higher than that in the post-treatment group (p < 0.05). The total number of CTCs and MCTCs cell numbers was significant correlation with Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging (p < 0.05), Progression-Free Survival (PFS), and Overall Survival (OS). The PFS of patients with > 7 CTCs or > 5 MCTCs per 5 mL blood was significantly shorter PFS than those patients with ≤ 7 CTCs or ≤ 5 MCTCs (p < 0.05). Patients treated with targeted therapy combined with chemoradiotherapy had poorer PFS and OS rates than those treated with chemoradiotherapy (p < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis also demonstrated that patients with changes in CTC > 4 were strongly associated with PFS and OS rates (p < 0.05). Conclusion: CTC and MCTC number detection in patients with NPC is a useful biomarker for predicting patient progress. Patients with more than 7 CTCs or 5 MCTCs in 5 mL of blood had shorter PFS and OS rates. CTC and MCTC count changes were also significantly associated with the patient's therapy

Ginsenoside Compound K Attenuates Metastatic Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, which Is Associated with the Translocation of Nuclear Factor-kappa B p65 and Reduction of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2/9

National Natural Science Foundation of China [31071187]; Research Institutes of the Fujian Province; Xiamen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Fund [3502Z20062008]The intestinal metabolite of ginseng saponin, compound K (CK), has various chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities, including antitumor activity. However, the functional mechanisms through which CK attenuates metastatic growth in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Here, using multiple in vitro and in vivo models, we reported that CK strongly attenuated colony formation, adhesion, and invasion of HCC cells in vitro and dramatically inhibited spontaneous HCC metastatic growth in vivo. At the molecular level, immunofluorescence and Western blotting analysis confirmed that inhibition of metastatic growth of HCC induced by CK treatment caused a time-dependent decrease in nuclear NF-kappa B p65 and a concomitant increase in cytosolic NF-kappa B p65, indicating that CK suppressed the activation of the NF-kappa B pathway. Meanwhile, our study showed that the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase2/9 (MMP2/9) expression caused by CK treatment was associated with NF-kappa B p65 nuclear export. Taken together, our results not only revealed that NF-kappa B p65 nuclear export and the reduction of MMP2/9 expression were associated with the metastatic inhibition induced by CK, but also suggested that CK may become a potential cytotoxic drug in the prevention and treatment of HCC