Gene Expression Analysis of Immune Regulatory Genes in Circulating Tumour Cells and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Patients with Colorectal Carcinoma (vol 24, 5051, 2023)

Summary: Information on genetic alterations of driver cancer genes in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and their immune microenvironment can be used as a real-time monitoring platform for translational applications. This study investigated gene expression profiling in CTCs and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients. The presence of higher numbers of CTCs was correlated with advanced cancer stages and adenocarcinoma subtypes. Patients with lower numbers of CTCs had higher expression of KRAS, which was negatively correlated with tumor perforation and distant metastasis. CTLA-4 was highly expressed in both CTCs and PBMCs and positively correlated with KRAS in CTCs. Dysregulation of KRAS in CTCs may alter the expression of CTLA-4, providing insights into therapeutic target selection.