Prognostic Value of Circulating Tumor Cells for Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Meta-analysis

Objective  To systematically review the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells(CTCs) for metastatic prostate cancer patients by Meta-analysis.

Methods  We electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, CNKI and CBM for collecting the studies about the prognostic relevance of CTCs in the peripheral blood of Gleason score 0-10th metastatic prostate cancer patients. The observation endpoint was the overall survival(OS). Review Manager 5.3 was used for this analysis.

Results  A total of 10 studies involving 1 137 patients of metastatic prostate cancer were eligible for the final analyses. The results of Meta-analysis showed that the presence of CTCs was associated with OS(HR=2.47, 95%CI: 2.02-3.02, P＜0.00001). According to the subgroup analysis by the detection time and the detection method, CTCs positive group show the poor prognosis than CTCs negative group patients. CTCs positive group showed a significantly positive correlation with the Gleason score of prostate cancer (OR=2.23, 95%CI: 1.41-3.53, P＜0.04), rather than PSA or extra bone metastasis.

Conclusion  CTCs is an adverse prognostic factor for metastatic prostate cancer patients, which is not significantly influenced by the detection time and check method.