Lto early diagnosis extends life and this is also, and above all, true for the breast cancer which, with over fifty thousand new diagnoses a year, continues to be there leading cause of cancer death among women. One of the most followed strategies in recent years to “flush out” the tumor early is to go in search of signals released into the blood by diseased cells. The idea behind this approach is simple: the tumor releases specific markers into the blood (fragments of DNA, proteins or even whole cells) that can be identified thanks to particular tests such as liquid biopsy.
Identifying a tumor through a blood test would radically transform the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, but so far liquid biopsy has proven itself effective mainly for detecting any metastases and for monitor the progress of the tumor and the response to treatmentAnd. Now the results of a recent Italian study indicate that this exam it could also be useful for diagnosing early breast cancer.
Breast cancer, DNA and circulating cancer cells
As we said, the liquid biopsy looks for circulating cancer cells or DNA released by diseased cells. But while the tumor DNA fragments allow to reconstruct only some characteristics of the disease and are difficult to detect in the early stages of cancer, the circulating tumor cells are present from the earliest stages of tumor development and can provide more information, such as the entire genetic profile of the tumor.
The Italian study
Starting from these premises, a team of Italian researchers, in collaboration with theUniversity of Baselstarted a study with the aim of testing one new platform, Tethisable to identify the presence of circulating tumor cells in patients with early stage breast cancer without metastases.
The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, involved 58 subjects, 30 healthy control cases and 28 patients with localized breast cancer. Despite the small number of the sample under examination, the results seem very promising.
The Tethis platform has demonstrated one sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 97% in distinguishing breast cancer patients from healthy women and detected the presence of circulating tumor cell aggregates, previously only described in patients with metastatic cancer, in a significant group of patients with localized cancer.
The advantages of liquid biopsy on circulating cancer cells
Compared to other types of liquid biopsy, the technique used in this study is based on the analysis of circulating cancer cells, which derive from active tumor areas and are able to provide more precise and detailed information on the genetic profile of the cancer and its possible evolution. This type of liquid biopsy is indeed capable of intercept the heterogeneity of cancer-forming cells and obtain an accurate analysis of the genetic characteristics of the diseasewhich in turn allows you to administer the most suitable treatment based on the tumor subtype identified.
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Not very invasivethis exam allows you to regularly monitor the trend and genetic evolution of the tumor to calibrate treatments based on the appearance of any new mutations.
Finally, the identification of circulating tumor cell aggregates in patients with early-stage localized cancer provides also important information on the aggressiveness and potential evolution of the tumor. It could allow doctors to intervene early on more aggressive cancer cases, thus preventing the cancer from becoming metastatic.
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