Latest Circulating Tumor Cell Stories

A $300,000 two-year grant from the Avon Foundation for Women will help researchers in the NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine determine how breast cancer cells spread from the breast and target the brain."This a very serious, and most fatal aspect of breast cancer. Presently, we cannot cure it," said Dr. Dario Marchetti, professor of pathology and immunology at BCM, and the principal investigator of the project.Seeds of cancer metastasisMarchetti...

Study of 2 breast cancer samples suggests tumors grow by 'punctuated, clonal expansions'A new method of analyzing cancerous tumors developed by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) suggests that tumors may not evolve gradually, but rather in punctuated or staccato-like bursts. It is a finding that has already shed new light on the process of tumor growth and metastasis, and may help in the development of new methods to clinically evaluate tumors.The new analytic method, devised...

RARITAN, N.J., Jan. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Veridex, LLC (Veridex) today announced a collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital to develop and commercialize a next-generation circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology for capturing, counting and characterizing tumor cells found in patients' blood. The collaboration will involve Ortho Biotech Oncology Research & Development (ORD), a unit of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development. It focuses on the...

A new study suggests that the presence of tumor cells in the circulating blood of patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck may predict disease recurrence and reduced survival. An increased number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) also correlates with a worse outcome.Those are the early findings from an ongoing, prospective study of the prognostic importance of CTCs by a team of researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital...

A high level of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) "” cells that have detached from a tumor and are circulating in the body through the blood "” are an independent prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer as first-line therapy. In addition, persistence of high CTC level during therapy was found to be an early marker of poor outcome."This is the largest, prospective series validating the prognostic value of CTCs in first-line chemotherapy metastatic breast cancer, independently from...

Metastatic breast cancer patients who had circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in their blood before or after high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation had poor outcomes, according to researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.Patients with CTCs in their blood before chemotherapy treatment had reduced survival and those with these cells in their blood after the stem cell transplant recurred faster and died earlier. These findings were...

Research shows cells' effect on survival of metastatic breast cancer patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantMetastatic breast cancer patients whose blood contains circulating tumor cells (CTCs) before or after treatment with high-dose chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplant have shorter survival periods, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.The findings were presented today in a poster session...

Noncancerous cells from primary site appear to facilitate tumor growthThe process of metastasis requires that cancer cells traveling from a primary tumor find a hospitable environment in which to implant themselves and grow. A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center researchers finds that circulating tumor cells prepare this environment by bringing along from their original site noncancerous cells that support tumor growth. The report has been published online in...

Redesigned microchip-based device provides more data, finds previously unseen CTC clustersA redesigned version of the CTC-Chip "“ a microchip-based device for capturing rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) "“ appears to be more effective and should be easier to manufacture than the original. Called the HB-(herringbone) Chip, the new device also may provide more comprehensive and easily accessible data from captured tumor cells. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers "“...

HAYWARD, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (ACD) was awarded a three-year, $3 million grant from National Cancer Institute (NCI) under its SBIR Phase II Bridge Award. This grant will support ACD's continuing effort to develop its proprietary CTCscope(TM) system capable of automatic detection and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). CTCs are the rare tumor cells detached from solid tumors and circulating in cancer patients' blood. "We are...