Circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer dormancy

Songdomg Meng, Debasish Tripathy, Eugene P. Frenkel, Sanjay Shete, Elizabeth Z. Naftalis, James F. Huth, Peter D. Beitsch, Marilyn Leitch, Susan Hoover, David Euhus, Barbara Haley, Larry Morrison, Timothy P. Fleming, Dorothee Herlyn, Leon W M M Terstappen, Tanja Fehm, Thomas F. Tucker, Nancy Lane, Jianqiang Wang, Jonathan W. Uhr

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

784 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in patients many years after mastectomy without evidence of disease and that these CTCs are shed from persisting tumor in patients with breast cancer dormancy. Experimental Design: We searched for CTCs in 36 dormancy candidate patients and 26 age-matched controls using stringent criteria for cytomorphology, immunophenotype, and aneusomy. Results: Thirteen of 36 dormancy candidates, 7 to 22 years after mastectomy and without evidence of clinical disease, had CTCs, usually on more than one occasion. Only 1 of 26 controls had a possible CTC (no aneusomy). The statistical difference of these two distributions was significant (exact P = 0.0043). The CTCs in patients whose primary breast cancer was just removed had a half-life measured in 1 to 2.4 hours. Conclusions: The CTCs that are dying must be replenished every few hours by replicating tumor cells somewhere in the tissues. Hence, there appears to be a balance between tumor replication and cell death for as long as 22 years in dormancy candidates. We conclude that this is one mechanism underlying tumor dormancy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8152-8162
Number of pages11
JournalClinical Cancer Research
Volume10
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 15 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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