Selecting a well-suited method for isolating/characterizing circulating tumor cells (CTCs)
is challenging. Evaluating sensitive and specific markers for prostate cancer (PCa)-specific CTC
identification and analysis is crucial. We used the CellCollector EpCAM-functionalized system (CCEpCAM) and evaluated and developed a PCa-functionalized version (CC-PCa); we then compared
CTC isolation techniques that exploit the physical and biological properties of CTCs. We established
two cohorts of metastatic PCa patients (mPCa; 15 in cohort 1 and 10 in cohort 2). CTC cultivation
experiments were conducted with two capturing methods (Ficoll and ScreenCell). The most sensitive
detection rates and highest CTC counts were reached with the CC-PCa and ScreenCell system.
Patients with ≥5 CTCs isolated with CC-EpCAM had an overall survival (OS) of 0.93 years, and
patients with ≥5 CTCs isolated with CC-PCa had an OS of 1.5 years in cohort 1. Nevertheless,
we observed the highest sensitivity and specificity for 24-month survival by the Ficoll with CD45
depletion and ScreenCell system with May-Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) staining. The EpCAM molecule
is an essential factor related to OS for CTC isolation based on biological properties in mPCa patients.
The best-suited CTC capture system is not limited to one characteristic of cells but adapted to
downstream analysis.
