VIDEO: CTCs may identify asymptomatic late breast cancer recurrences

SAN ANTONIO – Although the initial ardor over the use of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer diagnosis has cooled, new research suggests that they may play a role in identifying late breast cancer recurrences in otherwise asymptomatic patients, according to members of the ECOG-ACRIN cancer research group.

In this video interview from the the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, describes ECOG-ACRIN’s experiments showing that patients with hormone receptor–positive disease and HER2-negative breast cancer have a significantly elevated risk for recurrence, supporting CTCs as prognostic biomarkers for late recurrences.

If the findings can be replicated in prospective clinical trials, CTC assay results could help clinicians choose treatments for patients who are at risk for late recurrence.

ECOG-ACRIN received funding for this study from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen, and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Sparano declared no conflicts of interest.

SAN ANTONIO – Although the initial ardor over the use of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer diagnosis has cooled, new research suggests that they may play a role in identifying late breast cancer recurrences in otherwise asymptomatic patients, according to members of the ECOG-ACRIN cancer research group.

In this video interview from the the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, describes ECOG-ACRIN’s experiments showing that patients with hormone receptor–positive disease and HER2-negative breast cancer have a significantly elevated risk for recurrence, supporting CTCs as prognostic biomarkers for late recurrences.

If the findings can be replicated in prospective clinical trials, CTC assay results could help clinicians choose treatments for patients who are at risk for late recurrence.

ECOG-ACRIN received funding for this study from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen, and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Sparano declared no conflicts of interest.

SAN ANTONIO – Although the initial ardor over the use of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer diagnosis has cooled, new research suggests that they may play a role in identifying late breast cancer recurrences in otherwise asymptomatic patients, according to members of the ECOG-ACRIN cancer research group.

In this video interview from the the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, describes ECOG-ACRIN’s experiments showing that patients with hormone receptor–positive disease and HER2-negative breast cancer have a significantly elevated risk for recurrence, supporting CTCs as prognostic biomarkers for late recurrences.

If the findings can be replicated in prospective clinical trials, CTC assay results could help clinicians choose treatments for patients who are at risk for late recurrence.

ECOG-ACRIN received funding for this study from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen, and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Sparano declared no conflicts of interest.