Detection of prostate specific membrane antigen (psma) expression on circulating tumor cells (ctc)

Abstract

The disclosure provides a method for detecting prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) obtained from a patient afflicted with prostate cancer comprising (a) performing a direct analysis comprising immunofluorescent staining and morphological characterization of nucleated cells in a blood sample obtained from the patient to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC), and (b) determining the number of CTCs expressing PSMA. The disclosure also provides a provides a method for identifying a patient afflicted with prostate cancer as a candidate for PSMA targeted therapy comprising (a) performing a direct analysis comprising immunofluorescent staining and morphological characterization of nucleated cells in a blood sample obtained from the patient to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC), (b) determining prevalence of a CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA, and (c) comparing the prevalence of the CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA to a reference value, wherein the prevalence of the CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA above the reference value identifies the patient as a candidate for PSMA targeted therapy. The disclosure further provides a provides a method for predicting resistance to androgen receptor (AR) targeted therapy a patient afflicted with prostate cancer comprising (a) performing a direct analysis comprising immunofluorescent staining and morphological characterization of nucleated cells in a blood sample obtained from the patient to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC), (b) determining prevalence of a CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA, and (c) comparing the prevalence of the CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA to a reference value, wherein the prevalence of the CTC subpopulation expressing PSMA above the reference value is indicative of resistance to androgen receptor (AR) targeted therapy.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.