J Thorac Oncol accidentally found out! The unique cells in lung cancer patients can predict survival!

, June 20, 2020 /PRNewswire
/ -- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with most people diagnosedlung cancer living less than five yearsNon-small cell lung cancer (Non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC) is the most common type in which tumor cells fall off primary tumors, circulate in the blood, settle in other organs and transferIn some cases, surgery can remove primary tumors, but researchers from the University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine and MU Medical have identified a cell calledtumor-macrophage fusion cell (TMF) produced by the fusion of cancer cells and white blood cells, whose number and size may predict the patient's survival"We hypothesized that cancer cells fuse with immune cells, and by doing so, cancer cells manipulate the patient's immune system so that it doesn't attack cancer cells," said Jussuf Kaifi, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and School of MedicineIf lung cancer patients have these cells aftertumorremoval surgery, we now believe that the number and size of these cells are directly related to the patient's disease-free survival"
Kaifi and his team studied non-small cell lung cancer patients for three years and compared them to chronic long-term smokers who did not have lung cancer and healthy nonsmokers who did not have any known cancersThe researchers screened 222 subjects, took blood from each subject and tested the size and number of TMFsThe results showed that TMFs (76.5%) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer were significantly higher than those in the long-term smoker control group (6.9%)None of the 20 healthy nonsmokers tested TMFs in their bloodThe researchers also found a significant correlation between larger TMFs and shorter disease-free survivals Patients without TMFs had a three-year disease-free survival rate of close to 76%, but those with TMFs over 50 microns received a three-year disease-free survival rate of just under 49% after the surgery to remove tumors "This is the first study to demonstrate that TMFs can predict the survival rate of patients with surgery for lung cancer," said Kaifi The detection of circulatory TMFs through simple blood analysis has potential benefits for these patients It can help us determine which patients have the highest risk of recurrence after surgery This will allow us to tailor postoperative chemotherapy to each patient based on the presence of these cells and may prolong their survival "
Kaifi's further research into TMFs will focus on cell tolerance to immunotherapy and increased awareness of metastatic cancers, which could lead to new precision medical immunotherapy strategies (Bioon.com)
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Yariswamy Manjunath et al, Circulating giant tumor-macrophage fusion cells are independent prognosticators in non-small cell lung cancer patients
, Journal of Thoracic Oncology (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.jtho.2020.04.034
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