부산대학교 도서관

Background: Blood-based biomarkers may be particularly useful for patient selection and prediction of treatment response for angiogenesis inhibitors. Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and haematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) might have a role in tumour angiogenesis and in tumour growth. Measurement of CECs and HPCs in the blood of patients could be a simple, non-invasive way to monitor or predict responses to treatment. Methods: (VEGFR2+) CECs, (CD133+) HPCs, plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and erythropoietin were measured n blood from 25 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients before and during treatment with sorafenib plus erlotinib (SO/ER). In order to assess the drug specificity of changes in CECs and HPCs, 18 patients treated with bevacizumab plus erlotinib (BV/ER) and 10 patients with erlotinib (ER) monotherapy were studied. Response was measured in all patient groups by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Results: At day 7, SO/ER-treated patients showed a three-fold increase in CECs (P<0.0001) comparableto BV/ER-treated patients (P<0.01), and the CECs did not change with erlotinib treatment (P=0.8). At day 7, CD133+/HPCs decreased with SO/ER treatment (P<0.0001). HPC numbers did not change with either BV/ER or erlotinib. In SO/ER-treated patients pre-treatment CD133+/HPCs were significantlylower in responders (P=0.01) and pre-treatment CD133þ/HPC numbers lower than the median correlated with a longer time-to-progression (TTP) (P=0.037). Conclusion: Pre-treatment CD133+/HPCs are a promising candidate biomarker to further explore for use in selecting NSCLC patients who might benefit from SO/ER treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]