Breast Cancer Micrometastases Predict Survival

A study has shown that the identification of metastatic cells shed from the primary tumor has strong potential to identify breast cancer patients at high risk of relapse. The data showed bone marrow micrometastases to be an independent prognostic factor indicating an almost three-fold increased relative risk of cancer-related death. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in San Francisco (CA, USA).

In this ongoing study, investigators used the Automated Cellular Imaging System (ACIS) of ChromaVision Medical Systems (San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA) to assist them in both analyzing HER2 protein over-expression and detecting the presence of micrometastatic cells in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients. The study concluded that micrometastases detected in the bone marrow appears to be a better indicator of overall survival than evaluation of HER2 status. The study also demonstrated a strong correlation of results between HER2 protein expression as scored by a pathologist using the ACIS system and immunohistochemical staining versus Her2-neu gene amplification as assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Protein over-expression was found in 21% of patients and gene amplification detected in 23%.

"The results of this and other contemporary studies confirm the prognostic power of micrometastatic activity,” said Dr. Stephen Braun of Frauenlinik (Munich, Germany), author of the study. "It is also important to note that the ACIS technology provides improved accuracy for the identification of micrometastases, which will foster the implementation of this approach into routine risk classification systems.”




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