Correlation between targeted RNAseq signature of breast cancer CTCs and onset of bone-only metastases
Menée à partir d'échantillons sanguins prélevés sur 40 patientes atteintes d'un cancer du sein de stade IV et à l'aide de lignées cellulaires, cette étude met en évidence, à l'aide d'un séquençage ciblé de l'ARN de cellules cancéreuses, une corrélation entre l'expression de plusieurs gènes dans les cellules tumorales circulantes et le risque de développer des métastases osseuses
Background : Bone is the most frequent site of metastases from breast cancer (BC), but no biomarkers are yet available to predict skeletal dissemination.
Methods : We attempted to identify a gene signature correlated with bone metastasis (BM) onset in circulating tumour cells (CTCs), isolated by a DEPArray-based protocol from 40 metastatic BC patients and grouped according to metastasis sites, namely “BM” (bone-only), “ES” (extra-skeletal) or BM + ES (bone + extra-skeletal).
Results : A 134-gene panel was first validated through targeted RNA sequencing (RNAseq) on sub-clones of the MDA-MB-231 BC cell line with variable organotropism, which successfully shaped their clustering. The panel was then applied to CTC groups and, in particular, the “BM” vs “ES” CTC comparison revealed 31 differentially expressed genes, including MAF, CAPG, GIPC1 and IL1B, playing key prognostic roles in BC.
Conclusion : Such evidence confirms that CTCs are suitable biological sources for organotropism investigation through targeted RNAseq and might deserve future applications in wide-scale prospective studies.
British Journal of Cancer , résumé, 2021