Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Peripheral Blood by Use of The High-Gradient Magnetic Separation Technique in Ovarian Tumor Patients

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the high-gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) technique in detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for the preoperative diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Methods: Women who had ovarian tumors and were admitted to Thammasat University hospital during January 2018-December 2019 were enrolled into the study. Ten milliliters of fresh peripheral blood for HGMS were collected within 24 hrs prior to surgery. After healthy cell depletion by HGMS, the remaining cells including CTCs were spun onto gelatinized standard laboratory slides and stained with a panel of specific antibodies against CD45, CD31, CD34, CD73, CAM5.2, C-11, VIM and PKM2. The findings were classified into five classes, as based on cell types and their quantities: Classes I-III were categorized as a negative test and Classes IV-V were categorized as a positive test. The CTCs findings were compared to the final histopathological report.

Results: There were 67 participants in the study, with a mean age of 44.8 years. The detection rate of the test was 72.92%. Overall sensitivity and specificity were 45.45% and 94.12%, respectively. The accuracy of this method was 85.48%, with a negative predictive value of 88.89% and a positive predictive value of 62.50%.

Conclusion: The HGMS technique has a promising capacity for detecting ovarian cancer CTCs in patients with ovarian tumors. This technique should be optimized further and utilized, instead of a tumor markers, as a preoperative method for detecting ovarian cancer in the near future.