Circulating tumor cells with epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of lung cancer

Figure 1 Distribution of circulating tumor cells in lung cancer patients and controls. A: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with epithelial markers, CTCs with mesenchymal markers (M-CTCs), and CTCs with both marker (E&M-CTCs) can be identified in one CTC; B: Positive rate of CTCs in lung cancer cases was significantly higher than those in benign or healthy controls; C: The numbers of CTCs, M-CTCs, and E&M-CTCs in lung cancer cases were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (P < 0.05); however, there was no disparity between lung cancer and benign controls; D: The proportions of M-CTCs plus E&M-CTCs increased gradually in healthy controls, benign controls, and lung cancer cases. ^aP < 0.05; ^bP < 0.01; ^cP < 0.001. GGO: Ground-glass opacities.

Figure 2 Receiver operating characteristic curve of all lung cancer patients and ground-glass opacities patients. A: Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of total circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTCs with both markers (E&M-CTCs) for lung cancer diagnosis were 0.828 and 0.7648, respectively; B: AUCs of total CTCs and E&M-CTCs for ground-glass opacity (GGO) diagnosis were 0.7963 and 0.7504, respectively.