Multicenter study on the detection of disseminated tumor cells in primary node-positive breast cancer

• Main Authors: Effenberger, KE, Borgen, E, zu Eulenburg, C, Grosser, A, Pantel, K, Synnevstedt, M, Naume, B
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: eng ; ger
• ISSN: 0016-5751; 1438-8804
• DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1089136

Detection of disseminated tumor cells (DTC) in bone marrow (BM) has prognostic value in primary breast cancer (BC). Anti-cytokeratin (CK) antibodies (Abs) have been established as detection markers. Here we present a direct comparison of two well-established Abs. We screened BM of 65 N+ BC patients (M0, pT1–3, pN1–3). For each patient 2*106 cells were analyzed per Ab, using A45-B/B3 (A45) and AE1/AE3 (AE) Abs in parallel. Two cell scorings were carried out and compared for both Abs independently, called “Oslo“- and “HH“-scoring. 8/65 (12.3%) were BM+ for A45, and 13/65 patients (20.0%) for AE, respectively. Concordance obtained for the two Abs was 73.9% for the Oslo- and 80.0% for the HH-scoring (p=0.044). Comparison of the two different scorings for A45 and AE analysis each revealed a highly significant correlation (p