Project description:Development of a primary tumor gene expression profile that can predict the presence of circulating tumor cells in the blood of breast cancer patients. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood and microarray gene expression profiling of the primary tumor are two promising new technologies able to provide valuable prognostic data for patients with breast cancer. In the current study, we aimed to develop a novel profile which provided independent prognostic data by building a signature predictive of CTC status rather than outcome. Seventy-two primary breast cancer tumor have been analyzed against a breast cancer reference pool.
Project description:Development of a primary tumor gene expression profile that can predict the presence of circulating tumor cells in the blood of breast cancer patients. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood and microarray gene expression profiling of the primary tumor are two promising new technologies able to provide valuable prognostic data for patients with breast cancer. In the current study, we aimed to develop a novel profile which provided independent prognostic data by building a signature predictive of CTC status rather than outcome.
Project description:Recent technological advances have made it possible to detect circulating breast cancer cells as precursors of distant metastasis and as prognosis marker in nonmetastatic breast cancer patients. Association of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with molecular alteration in the primary tumor is not widely explored. We reported differential profile of altered genome, copy number alteration and copy-neutral loss of heterogeneity in 14 primary tumors when comparing patients with CTCs+ versus CTCs- using single-nucleotide polymorphism array. The most prevalent copy number alteration in CTCs+ patients was at 8q and particularly at the cytoband 8q24 (MYC loci). As the role of MYC in the process of tumor cell invasion and migration is controversial, we further validated in a larger series of patients whether altered MYC (amplification or gained) in primary tumors was correlated with the presence of CTCs in peripheral blood (as a surrogate of micrometastais). No correlation between MYC alteration and presence of CTCs was observed, providing clinical support to the recent data that MYC suppresses cancer metastasis or at least suggesting that MYC alteration could be contributory but insufficient for the generation of CTCs. This molecular association needs to be further characterized in preclinical model and especially clinically. We analyzed CN and LOH of CTC+ and CTC-
