Breast Cancer Subtypes Not Effectively Ruled Out By Antibody-Based Pronostic Test

An Antibody-based test called cellsearch,used to detect circulating breast cancer cells in patients before and during treatment, is found ineffective in detecting normal-like tumor cells.

Dutch researchers have shown that an antibody-based test called CellSearch, which is used to detect circulating breast cancer cells in patients before and during treatment, may not detect all subtypes of breast cancer.

A research team led by Dr. Anieta Sieuwerts, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has identified five subtypes of breast cancer by their gene expression patterns-namely basal, HER2-positive, luminal A and B, and normal-like.

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The researchers say that these subtypes vary in their natural history and response to therapy.

Studies conducted in the past suggested that women who had a decrease in circulating tumour cells after the start of treatment were likely to have a better outcome than those who did not have a decline.

However, according to the researchers, it was not known whether the CellSearch assay detected all five subtypes of cancer equally.

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In the current study, Sieuwerts' team tested cells from a total of 34 cell lines that represented a mix of the five breast cancer subtypes.

The researchers found that the assay did not detect the nine normal-like breast cancer cells but did detect the other subtypes.

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"New tests that include antibodies that specifically recognize normal-like breast tumor cells...are needed," the authors conclude.

The study has been reported in the Journal of National Cancer Institute.

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