Tumor cells in blood may indicate more aggressive cancer.

2003 MAY 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- If patients with breast cancer have tumor cells circulating in the blood, they may have a more dangerous form of the disease, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The results could lead to more tailored treatment that would spare some patients from the most potent chemotherapy and its toxic side effects.

The study, led by Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology, and published in the Proceedings for the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research, found that women who have tumor cells circulating in the blood have reduced survival compared to those without circulating tumor cells.

Until recently, doctors have not been able to reliably isolate circulating tumor cells. Within the last few years, several methods have been developed to label tumor cells with antibodies that can then be measured precisely, identifying even one tumor cell in a vial of blood, said Cristofanilli. In the current study, the scientists used an automated system developed by Immunicon Corp., Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania.

"We know that invasion and metastasis are the most life-threatening aspects of cancer," said Cristofanilli. "To metastasize, cancer cells must leave the site of the primary tumor, travel through the blood and proliferate in a new site. If we discovered in a newly diagnosed patient that tumor cells are already in the blood, we would be aware that we are dealing with a more aggressive cancer that may require more aggressive treatment.

In the study, Cristofanilli and his colleagues studied 41 patients who had just been diagnosed ...