A Systematic Review of Circulating Tumor Cells Clinical Application in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

The purpose of the review is to summarize the recent data on circulating tumor cells (CTC) use in clinical practice. We performed a systematic literature search using two databases (Medline and Scopus) over the past five years and the following terms: (CTC OR “circulating tumor cells” OR “liquid biopsy”) AND prostate. The primary outcome was CTC predictive value for prostate cancer (PC) progression and survival. The secondary outcomes were the CTC predictive value for therapy response and the results of CTC detection depending on the assessment method. In metastatic PC, the CTC count showed itself to be a prognostic marker in terms of clinically important features, namely survival rates and response to treatment. CTC concentration was significantly associated with the overall survival and progression-free survival rates. A strong association between the overall survival or progression-free survival rate and CTC concentration could be observed. Variant-7 androgen receptors-positive (AR-V7-positive) patients showed a poor response to androgen receptor signaling (ARS) inhibitors, but this did not compromise their response to taxanes. In localized PC, only positive Cluster of Differentiantion 82 protein (CD82+) correlated with a higher survival rate. CTC count and AR-V7 expression showed itself to be a valuable biomarker for survival in metastatic PC and response to ARS-inhibitors. CTC diagnostic performance for localized PC or for screening and early detection is not high enough to show additional value over the other biomarkers.