Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Immunodetection of Breast Carcinoma Cells in
Human Bone Marrow Using Multiple Murine
Monoclonal Antibodies and Flow Cytometry
Robert Bast, Jr., David Leslie, Lorri Everitt, Cinda Boyer,
Arthur Frankel, William Peters, and David Ring
Breast cancer is one of the malignancies that frequently spread to bone and
bone marrow. Detecting tumor in marrow from patients with apparently earlystage
disease could prompt more aggressive adjuvant therapy. Preliminary
reports from London and Milan suggest that marrow may be contaminated in
stage I disease in as many as 28% of patients (1,2). Methods employed to date,
however, have made it difficult to confirm the epithelial nature of the cells
detected with multiple monoclonal antibodies. As a result, patients with positive
bone scans have been excluded from autologous bone marrow transplantation
programs out of concern that their marrows might be subclinicalfy contaminated
with malignant cells. A sensitive and specific technique for detecting residual
cells might permit more rational selection of transplant candidates. An assay for
detecting tumor cells might also be used to monitor the elimination of
malignant breast cancer cells following treatment ex vivo with various cleansing
techniques.
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