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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1506968

Enhanced Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells Using a MUC1 Promoter-Driven Recombinant Adenovirus

Provisionally accepted
Cheng Wang Cheng Wang 1Huihui Gu Huihui Gu 1Jia Cai Jia Cai 1Chuandong Zhu Chuandong Zhu 2Qin Zheng Qin Zheng 2Hanfeng Xu Hanfeng Xu 2Lixue Wang Lixue Wang 1*Yuan Wan Yuan Wan 3*
  • 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanjing Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine（The Second Hospital of Nanjing）, nanjing, China
  • 2 Department of Oncology, Nanjing Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine（The Second Hospital of Nanjing）, nanjing, China
  • 3 The Pq Laboratory of BiomeDx/Rx, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States, Binghamton, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have attracted significant interest as a biomarker for cancer diagnosis. In this study, we judiciously constructed a recombinant MUC1-dependent adenovirus (rAdF35-MUC1) that can selectively replicate and overexpress copepod super green fluorescent proteins (copGFP) in MUC1-positive tumor cells to investigate its role in the detection of CTCs. Methods We conducted a comparative study between rAdF35-MUC1 and the existing hTERT-dependent adenovirus (rAdF35-hTERT). Breast cancer cell lines and healthy human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were infected with both viral constructs to evaluate infection efficiency and the incidence of false-positive cells. CTC Model Samples were employed to determine detection rates, and clinical samples from breast cancer patients were analyzed to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of CTC detection in a clinical context.In preclinical and clinical studies, rAdF35-MUC1 exhibited a significantly high detection efficiency for breast cancer cells, outperforming the existing hTERT-dependent adenovirus (rAdF35-hTERT), especially in detecting CTCs at low quantities. Moreover, rAdF35-MUC1 demonstrated reduced incidence of false positives in healthy PBMCs compared to rAdF35-hTERT. Conclusion In brief, rAdF35-MUC1 emerges as a potent tool for the sensitive and specific identification of CTCs derived from breast cancer patients, holding clinical translation potential for advancing cancer (early) diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and prognosis.

    Keywords: breast cancer, circulating tumor cell, DF3/MUC1, hTERT, adenovirus

    Received: 06 Oct 2024; Accepted: 27 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Gu, Cai, Zhu, Zheng, Xu, Wang and Wan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lixue Wang, Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanjing Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine（The Second Hospital of Nanjing）, nanjing, China
    Yuan Wan, The Pq Laboratory of BiomeDx/Rx, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States, Binghamton, United States

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