Graves Holly, Czerniecki Brian J
Harrison Department of Surgical Research, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Patholog Res Int. 2011 Jan 3;2011:621090. doi: 10.4061/2011/621090.
In this paper, we examine the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in breast cancer. CTCs are tumor cells present in the peripheral blood. They are found in many different carcinomas but are not present in patients with benign disease. Recent advances in theories regarding metastasis support the role of early release of tumor cells in the neoplastic process. Furthermore, it has been found that phenotypic variation exists between the primary tumor and CTCs. Of particular interest is the incongruency found between primary tumor and CTC HER2 status in both metastatic and early breast cancer. Overall, CTCs have been shown to be a poor prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer. CTCs in early breast cancer are not as well studied, however, several studies suggest that the presence of CTCs in early breast cancer may also suggest a poorer prognosis. Studies are currently underway looking at the use of CTC level monitoring in order to guide changes in therapy.
在本文中,我们研究了循环肿瘤细胞(CTCs)在乳腺癌中的作用。循环肿瘤细胞是存在于外周血中的肿瘤细胞。它们在许多不同的癌症中都能被发现,但在良性疾病患者中不存在。关于转移的理论的最新进展支持肿瘤细胞在肿瘤形成过程中早期释放的作用。此外,已经发现原发性肿瘤和循环肿瘤细胞之间存在表型差异。特别令人感兴趣的是,在转移性乳腺癌和早期乳腺癌中,原发性肿瘤与循环肿瘤细胞的HER2状态之间存在不一致。总体而言,循环肿瘤细胞已被证明是转移性乳腺癌的一个不良预后标志物。早期乳腺癌中的循环肿瘤细胞尚未得到充分研究,然而,一些研究表明,早期乳腺癌中循环肿瘤细胞的存在也可能预示着较差的预后。目前正在进行研究,探讨使用循环肿瘤细胞水平监测来指导治疗方案的调整。