Aapro M S, Eliason J F, Krauer F, Alberto P
J Clin Oncol. 1987 Jun;5(6):890-6. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1987.5.6.890.
Cells from some, but not all, tumor biopsy samples form colonies when cultured in semi-solid media. The possibility that colony formation by progenitor cells in these tumors may reflect a more "aggressive" phenotype bearing clinical implications was examined in a series of 61 patients with primary breast cancer. Tumor cells from 32 samples formed colonies in vitro. There was no correlation between colony formation and any of the standard clinical parameters such as tumor size, nodal status, metastatic spread, or hormone receptor levels. Eighteen patients had inflammatory, locally advanced and/or detectable metastatic breast cancer at the time of surgery. Sixteen of these patients have progressed and 15 have died, with no relationship between colony formation and survival. For the 43 remaining patients, 23 had a tissue sample that gave rise to colonies in vitro; 14 of these have relapsed, with a median relapse-free survival (RFS) of 37.6 months, and eight have died with a median survival time of 46.8 months. This is compared with four relapses (median RFS not reached, P = .0043, Peto-Pike), and four deaths (median not reached, P = .1175) in the group without growth of the tumor specimen. These results indicate that colony formation is an independent prognostic parameter for breast cancer, which may be useful for selecting patients who would benefit from more intensive therapy.
部分（而非全部）肿瘤活检样本中的细胞在半固体培养基中培养时会形成集落。在一系列61例原发性乳腺癌患者中，研究了这些肿瘤中祖细胞形成集落的可能性是否可能反映出具有临床意义的更“侵袭性”表型。32个样本的肿瘤细胞在体外形成了集落。集落形成与任何标准临床参数（如肿瘤大小、淋巴结状态、转移扩散或激素受体水平）之间均无相关性。18例患者在手术时患有炎性、局部晚期和/或可检测到转移的乳腺癌。其中16例患者病情进展，15例死亡，集落形成与生存之间无关联。对于其余43例患者，23例患者的组织样本在体外形成了集落；其中14例复发，无复发生存期（RFS）中位数为37.6个月，8例死亡，中位生存时间为46.8个月。相比之下，肿瘤标本未生长的组中有4例复发（RFS中位数未达到，P = .0043，Peto-Pike），4例死亡（中位数未达到，P = .1175）。这些结果表明，集落形成是乳腺癌的一个独立预后参数，可能有助于选择能从更强化治疗中获益的患者。
