Abstract
Tumor cell dissemination in bone marrow or other organs is thought to represent an important step in the metastatic process. The detection of bone marrow disseminated tumor cells is associated with worse outcome in early breast cancer. Moreover, the detection of peripheral blood circulating tumor cells is an adverse prognostic factor in metastatic breast cancer, and emerging data suggest that this is also true for early disease. Beyond enumeration, the characterization of these cells has the potential to improve risk assessment, treatment selection and monitoring, and the development of novel therapeutic agents, and to advance our understanding of the biology of metastasis.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in Europe [1]
Minimal residual disease (MRD) after potentially curative surgery for BC is thought to contribute to disease relapse and to be the target of adjuvant treatment
Surrogates of MRD are tumor cells detected in the bone marrow (disseminated tumor cells (DTCs)) and peripheral blood (circulating tumor cells (CTCs)) [2]
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in Europe [1]. Despite surgery and adjuvant systemic therapy, many women with early BC still relapse and die of their disease. CellSearch® is the only technology that has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for CTC detection as an aid in monitoring patients with metastatic breast, colorectal and prostate cancer [10,11,12].
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