Comprehensive Analysis of CXCR4, JUNB, and PD-L1 Expression in Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from Prostate Cancer Patients

Overview

Journal Cells

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2024 May 10

PMID 38727318

Authors

Argyro Roumeliotou

Areti Strati

Foteini Chamchougia

Anastasia Xagara

Victoria Tserpeli

Stavroula Smilkou

Elina Lagopodi

Athina Christopoulou

Emmanouil Kontopodis

Ioannis Drositis

Nikolaos Androulakis

Vassilis Georgoulias

Filippos Koinis

Athanasios Kotsakis

Evi Lianidou

Galatea Kallergi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

CXCR4, JUNB and PD-L1 are implicated in cancer progression and metastasis. The current study investigated these biomarkers in CTCs isolated from metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) patients at the RNA and protein levels. CTCs were isolated from 48 mPCa patients using the Ficoll density gradient and ISET system (17 out of 48). The (CK/PD-L1/CD45) and (CK/CXCR4/JUNB) phenotypes were identified using two triple immunofluorescence stainings followed by VyCAP platform analysis. Molecular analysis was conducted with an EpCAM-dependent method for 25/48 patients. , , , , , , and (reference gene) were analyzed with RT-qPCR. The (CK+/PD-L1+/CD45-) and the (CK+/CXCR4+/JUNB+) were the most frequent phenotypes (61.1% and 62.5%, respectively). Furthermore, the (CK+/CXCR4+/JUNB-) phenotype was correlated with poorer progression-free survival [(PFS), HR: 2.5, = 0.049], while the (CK+/PD-L1+/CD45-) phenotype was linked to decreased overall survival [(OS), HR: 262.7, = 0.007]. Molecular analysis revealed that 76.0% of the samples were positive for , and , while 28.0% were positive for , 44.0% for , and 48.0% for . Conclusively, CXCR4, JUNB, and PD-L1 were highly expressed in CTCs from mPCa patients. The CXCR4 protein expression was associated with poorer PFS, while PD-L1 was correlated with decreased OS, providing new biomarkers with potential clinical relevance.

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