头颈鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）是一种常见且致命的癌症。在低风险和中风险患者中，循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）的数量可能是有价值的、预后性的生物标志物。然而，很少有技术在这些人群中检测到CTC具有成功的例子。我们使用高度敏感的装置，该装置使用仿生细胞滚动和树枝状共价抗体纯化CTC，从在我们机构接受治疗的两个患者群体中前瞻性收集了纵向CTC计数。在中风险人类乳头瘤病毒（HPV）阳性的HNSCC患者中，筛查时检测到了13名受试者的CTC计数升高，中位数为17 CTC/ml（范围为0.2-2986.5）。接受西妥昔单抗单药治疗后接受手术切除的非转移性HPV- HNSCC受试者的第二个队列中，所有受试者的基线CTC计数均升高，中位数为73 CTC/ml（范围为5.4-332.9），在治疗期间统计学上显著下降。有趣的是，两名复发患者在治疗期间和治疗后的CTC计数也升高，并与原发肿瘤的大小和ki67表达的增长相关。结果表明，我们的设备可能是评估 less intensive 治疗方案成功的有价值工具。 版权所有 © 2023 Elsevier B.V.发布。

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common and deadly cancer. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) abundance may a valuable, prognostic biomarker in low- and intermediate-risk patients. However, few technologies have demonstrated success in detecting CTCs in these populations. We prospectively collected longitudinal CTC counts from two cohorts of patients receiving treatments at our institution using a highly sensitive device that purifies CTCs using biomimetic cell rolling and dendrimer-conjugated antibodies. In patients with intermediate risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive HNSCC, elevated CTC counts were detected in 13 of 14 subjects at screening with a median of 17 CTC/ml (range 0.2-2986.5). A second cohort of non-metastatic, HPV- HNSCC subjects received cetuximab monotherapy followed by surgical resection. In this cohort, all subjects had elevated baseline CTC counts median of 73 CTC/ml (range 5.4-332.9) with statistically significant declines during treatment. Interestingly, two patients with recurrent disease had elevated CTC counts during and following treatment, which also correlated with growth of size and ki67 expression in the primary tumor. The results suggest that our device may be a valuable tool for evaluating the success of less intensive treatment regimens.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.