Pure Solid Pattern of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Clustered Circulating Tumor Cells
by
,
Noriyoshi Sawabata
1,*
,
Takeshi Kawaguchi
1,
Takashi Watanabe
1,
Daiki Yohikawa
1,
Noriko Ouji-Sageshima
2 and
Toshihiro Ito
2 1
Department of Thoracic and Cardio-Vascular Surgery, Nara Medical University, Kashihara 634-8552, Japan
2
Department of Immunology, Nara Medical University, Kashihara 634-8521, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cancers 2022, 14(18), 4514; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14184514
Submission received: 7 August 2022
/
Revised: 9 September 2022
/
Accepted: 14 September 2022
/
Published: 17 September 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circulating Tumor Cells: From the Laboratory to the Cancer Clinic)
Simple Summary
There are two solid patterns of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on computed tomography (CT): pure or mixed with ground glass opacities (GGOs). They predict the degree of tumor invasiveness, which may suggest the presence of clustered circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a predictor of poor prognosis. We assessed the implications of the solid patterns on CT and the preoperative clustered CTCs. Pure solid appearance was an independent predictor of preoperative clustered CTCs in the multivariable analysis, and preoperative clustered CTCs were an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival; the solid pattern was not an independent variable.
Abstract
There are two solid patterns of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on computed tomography (CT): pure or mixed with ground-glass opacities (GGOs). They predict the degree of invasiveness, which may suggest the presence of clustered circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a predictor of poor prognosis. In this study, we assessed the implications of the solid patterns on CT and the preoperative clustered CTCs in surgically resected NSCLC. CTCs were detected using a size selection method. The correlation between the presence of preoperative clustered CTCs and the solid pattern and the prognostic implications were evaluated using co-variables from the clinical-pathological findings. Of the 142 cases, pure solid lesions (Group PS) and mixed GGOs (Group G) were observed in 92 (64.8%) and 50 (35.2%) patients, respectively. In Groups PS and G, clustered CTCs were detected in 29 (31.5%) and 1 (2.0%) patient (p < 0.01), respectively. The PS appearance was an independent predictor of preoperative clustered CTCs in the multivariable analysis, and preoperative clustered CTCs were an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival; the solid pattern was not an independent variable. Thus, the PS pattern of NSCLC on CT is an indicator of preoperative clustered CTCs, which is an independent poor prognosis predictor.
