Circulating tumor cells could help guide treatment and improve quality of life for ca

[News]

One of the most dangerous characteristics of cancer is its ability to metastasize, or spread through the body. For this reason, oncologists have a major need for better tests to detect cells that break away from primary tumors to travel to other parts of the body.

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[gdpawel]

Interesting!

"Combining molecular analysis, chemo sensitivity testing in vitro, and therapy monitoring in vivo on disseminated tumor cells (CTC) in breast cancer patients," presented at the ASCO meeting.

http://abstract.asco.org/AbstView_74_52031.html

Dr. Katharina Pachmann was the investigator who reported at an annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in 2004, using the CTC technique, German investigators showing that neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel (taxol) causes a massive release of cells into the circulation, while at the same time reducing the size of the tumor. The finding helped to explain the fact that complete pathologic responses do not correlate well with improvements in survival (Oncol News Int'l, Vol 14, #5, May '05).

Two years before this, Dr. Christos Kosmas, published a study "Carcinomatous Meningits: Taxane-Induced" which found what is called "dissemination after taxane-based (taxol) chemotherapy. the study concluded that Carcinomatous Meningitis (a CNS metastasis) after a major response to front-line taxane-based regimens represents a grave disease manifestation and its incidence appears increased when compared retrospectivley to non-taxane-treated patients (American Journal Clinical Oncology 2002;63:6-15).

Monitoring CTCs could be utilized for confirmation after the patient is administered assay-directed most beneficial therapeutic agents.

['lizbeth]

Alarming seems to be a better word than interesting. Yikes.

[gdpawel]

Well, the abstract presentation at the ASCO meeting, of combining three tests, was interesting. I agree, the circulating tumor cell discovery was alarming.