In patients with metastatic breast cancer the identification of circulating tumor cells in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is associated with a poor prognosis

Table 4 Univariate analysis of demographic data, clinicopathological data, and circulating CD45^neg subpopulations with PFS and OS, computed from both the diagnosis of metastasis and the CTC assessment

Variable		OS (from stage IV diagnosis)			OS (from CTC assessment)			PFS
		HR	95 % CI	p	HR	95 % CI	p	HR	95 % CI	p
ECOG PS	2-3 vs. 0-1	5.288	1.392–20.096	0.015	11.294	2.467–51.702	0.0018	2.558	0.730–8.963	0.14
BC profile	HER2-positive vs. luminal	0.338	0.075–1.525	0.16	0.274	0.061–1.235	0.092	0.616	0.237–1.599	0.32
	TNBC vs. luminal	1.803	0.564–5.771	0.32	0.972	0.312–3.029	0.96	1.212	0.495–2.963	0.67
Lines received	> 2 vs. < 2	3.452	1.138–10.475	0.029	0.622	0.245–1.581	0.32	0.557	0.265–1.172	0.12
Age	≥ 70 vs. < 70	0.593	0.19–1.809	0.34	0.652	0.213–1.997	0.45	1.031	0.459–2.314	0.94
E CTC (n)		1.003	0.982–1.024	0.79	1.001	0.980–1.023	0.92	1.004	0.989–1.020	0.6
EM CTC (n)		1.018	0.994–1.043	0.13	1.023	0.998–1.049	0.08	1.020	0.998–1.043	0.081
ETOT CTC (n)		1.006	0.993–1.019	0.35	1.006	0.993–1.019	0.38	1.007	0.996–1.018	0.24
MES (n)		0.998	0.991–1.005	0.56	0.998	0.991–1.005	0.56	0.998	0.992–1.003	0.41
NEG (n)		0.998	0.981–1.015	0.79	0.992	0.975–1.010	0.41	0.997	0.986–1.008	0.58
CD45^neg (n)		0.999	0.994–1.004	0.79	0.999	0.993–1.004	0.61	0.999	0.995–1.003	0.56
EM CTC/CD45^neg (%)		1.022	1.003–1.042	0.022	1.035	1.013–1.057	0.0016	1.021	1.004–1.039	0.016
E TOT/CD45^neg (%)		1.019	1.004–1.034	0.015	1.019	1.004–1.034	0.013	1.010	0.997–1.023	0.12
MES/CD45^neg (%)		0.984	0.968–0.999	0.037	0.988	0.973–1.002	0.1	0.993	0.981–1.005	0.26
NEG/CD45^neg (%)		0.999	0.972–1.027	0.95	0.992	0.966–1.018	0.54	0.998	0.980–1.017	0.86

Bold cells indicate significant (p <0.05) association as detected by univariate Cox regression model
CI confidence interval, CTC circulating tumor cells, ECOG PS Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, E CTC subset of CD45^neg expressing epithelial markers only, EM CTC subset of CD45^neg coexpressing mesenchymal and epithelial markers, ETOT CTC CD45^neg cells expressing epithelial markers independently from the expression of mesenchymal markers, HR hazard ratio, MES subset of CD45^neg expressing mesenchymal markers only, NEG subset of CD45^neg negative to the antibody cocktail, OS overall survival, PFS progression-free survival, BC breast cancer, HER2 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, TNBC triple negative breast cancer

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