Humblet Y, Symann M
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Brussels, Belgium.
Pathol Biol (Paris). 1988 Jan;36(1):83-5.
Detection of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) bone marrow (BM) metastases has a prognostic implication in itself and a therapeutic interest in the setting of autologous bone marrow transplantation. In a prospective study involving 68 bone marrow samples, we compared SCLC detection results obtained using a tumor stem cell assay and those obtained using conventional morphology by light microscopy. In agar, tumoral cells were stimulated either by Salmon's conditioned medium or by epidermal growth factor (EGF). Tumoral clonogeneic cells were detected in 11 cases, although 7 of these were considered negative when investigated by light microscopy. On the contrary, metastases were detected by morphology in 8 instances where no growing colonies were revealed by tumor stem cell assay. The choice of stimulating factor did not seem critical since the number of colonies was similar in all the cases. We conclude that the tumor stem cell assay is useful in the detection of small cell lung cancer bone marrow metastases, particularly in cases where these metastases have failed to be recognized through light microscopy investigation. However, the sensitivity of this assay is low and should be complemented by other techniques such as immunodetection.
检测小细胞肺癌（SCLC）骨髓转移本身具有预后意义，并且在自体骨髓移植背景下具有治疗意义。在一项涉及68份骨髓样本的前瞻性研究中，我们比较了使用肿瘤干细胞检测法和传统光学显微镜形态学检测法获得的小细胞肺癌检测结果。在琼脂中，肿瘤细胞由沙门氏菌条件培养基或表皮生长因子（EGF）刺激。11例检测到肿瘤克隆细胞，不过其中7例经光学显微镜检查被认为呈阴性。相反，8例通过形态学检测到转移，但肿瘤干细胞检测未发现生长菌落。刺激因子的选择似乎并不关键，因为所有病例中的菌落数量相似。我们得出结论，肿瘤干细胞检测法有助于检测小细胞肺癌骨髓转移，特别是在通过光学显微镜检查未能识别这些转移的情况下。然而，该检测法的灵敏度较低，应辅以免疫检测等其他技术。
