title: Circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer dormancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in patients many years after mastectomy without evidence of disease and that these CTCs are shed from persisting tumor in patients with breast cancer dormancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched for CTCs in 36 dormancy candidate patients and 26 age-matched controls using stringent criteria for cytomorphology, immunophenotype, and aneusomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen of 36 dormancy candidates, 7 to 22 years after mastectomy and without evidence of clinical disease, had CTCs, usually on more than one occasion. Only 1 of 26 controls had a possible CTC (no aneusomy). The statistical difference of these two distributions was significant (exact P = 0.0043). The CTCs in patients whose primary breast cancer was just removed had a half-life measured in 1 to 2.4 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CTCs that are dying must be replenished every few hours by replicating tumor cells somewhere in the tissues. Hence, there appears to be a balance between tumor replication and cell death for as long as 22 years in dormancy candidates. We conclude that this is one mechanism underlying tumor dormancy.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-8576, USA.
authors.forename: Songdong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Debasish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.forename: Eugene P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Frenkel
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shete
authors.forename: Elizabeth Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Naftalis
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Huth
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Beitsch
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leitch
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Euhus
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haley
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Timothy P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Dorothee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Herlyn
authors.forename: Leon W M M
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Terstappen
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fehm
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.forename: Jianqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Uhr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D020732:Cytogenetic Analysis; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D015409:Mastectomy, Radical; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000473:pathology; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor