Immunofluorescent monoclonal antibody detection of breast cancer in bone marrow: sensitivity in a model system.
We have previously shown that occult micrometastases can be detected in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients using a panel of epithelial specific monoclonal antibodies in an indirect immunofluorescent assay. The sensitivity of this assay has been examined using cells from an established human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) mixed with normal bone marrow at various dilutions from 400 cancer cells/10(6) marrow cells (400:10(6] to 10:10(6). MCF-7 cells were detected at the lowest concentration studied, namely 10:10(6). The number of fluorescent labeled MCF-7 cells counted at each concentration was related to the concentration by a simple nonlinear statistical model. At the concentration of 10:10(6), the model shows that this technique has the sensitivity to detect between two and four MCF-7 cells 95% of the time. Moreover, by extrapolation, the model predicts that even at the very low concentration of 2:10(6), there is a 95% chance of detecting one cancer cell. Therefore, this assay may be a very sensitive method for detecting cancer cells in the bone marrow in vivo.
Osborne
M P
MP
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021.
Asina
S
S
Wong
G Y
GY
Old
L J
LJ
Cote
R J
RJ
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal