Abstract
Chiara Nicolazzo1, Flavia Loreni1, Salvatore Caponnetto2, Valentina Magri2, Anna Rita Vestri3, Rita Zamarchi4, Angela Gradilone1, Antonella Facchinetti4,5, Elisabetta Rossi4,5, Enrico Cortesi2 and Paola Gazzaniga1
1 Department of Molecular Medicine, Liquid Biopsy Unit, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
3 Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
4 Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, Padua, Italy
5 Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Italy
Correspondence to:
Chiara Nicolazzo, | email: | chiara.nicolazzo@uniroma1.it |
Keywords: cancer stem cells; CD44v6; circulating tumor cells; colorectal cancer; CellSearch®
Received: July 22, 2020 Accepted: October 17, 2020 Published: November 10, 2020
ABSTRACT
CD44v6, the CD44 isoform mostly involved in cancer cell migration and invasion, has been identified as a functional biomarker and therapeutic target in colon cancer stem cells. We here provide evidence that baseline CD44v6-positive CTC predict treatment failure in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer undergoing first-line chemotherapy. We suggest that CD44v6-positive CTC can be used to early detect intrinsic drug resistance in this cancer type.