Predicting prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

This analysis examined the predictive value of circulating tumor cells in non-small cell lung cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer has a high mortality rate, due to metastases (spread of the disease) and a 25–50% local recurrence (return of the cancer) rate. There are currently few ways to determine which patients will be affected by metastasis or recurrence. Circulating tumor cells are cells that have broken away from the main tumor and have entered the bloodstream. The levels of circulating cells have been shown to predict prognosis in breast and colorectal cancer patients, however, their predictive value is not yet clear in lung cancer. The current research analyzes the results of studies examining the predictive power or circulating tumor cells in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.  

Twenty studies were included in this analysis, including a total of 1576 patients. The studies examined whether the levels of circulating tumor cells were associated with such factors as cancer type and stage, and whether they were predictive of survival.

Circulating tumor cells were found to be highly predictive of cancer stage, as patients with circulating cells were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with a more advanced disease. Patients with circulating tumor cells were also almost twice as likely to exhibit lymph node metastasis, and were twice as likely to have poor survival rates. However, circulating tumor cells were not associated with a specific type of non-small cell lung cancer, as they were found equally as often in patients with adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

This analysis concluded that circulating tumor cells were predictive of a worse prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer patients.