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. 2019 Apr 27;3(2):pkz026.
doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkz026. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Circulating Tumor Cells in Early Breast Cancer

Laura Thery  1 , Alessandra Meddis  2 , Luc Cabel  1   3   4 , Charlotte Proudhon  3 , Aurelien Latouche  2   5 , Jean-Yves Pierga  1   3   6 , Francois-Clement Bidard  1   3   4
Affiliations

Circulating Tumor Cells in Early Breast Cancer

Laura Thery et al. JNCI Cancer Spectr. .

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are particularly rare in non-metastatic breast cancer, and the clinical validity of CTC detection in that clinical setting was initially not well recognized. A cytological CTC detection device (CellSearch) fulfilling the CLIA requirements for analytical validity was subsequently developed and, in 2008, we reported the first study (REMAGUS02) showing that distant metastasis-free survival was shorter in early breast cancer patients with one or more CTCs. In the past 10 years, other clinical studies and meta-analyses have established CTC detection as a level-of-evidence 1 prognostic biomarker for local relapses, distant relapses, and overall survival. This review summarizes available data on CTC detection and the promises of this proliferation- and subtype-independent metastasis-associated biomarker in early breast cancer patients.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Positivity rate of a second circulating tumor cell CTC) count according to the first CTC count. This graph displays the probability of (Y2) being above the cut-off (CTCs = 1) as a function of a prior CTC count (Y1), in the absence of any efficient therapeutic intervention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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