Association of a novel circulating tumor DNA next-

Association of a novel circulating tumor DNA next-generating sequencing platform with circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTC clusters in metastatic breast cancer

I know Trding has outlined similar before, but thought I would share the new CTC article published by Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli to lay out the importance of <5 CTC results.......undetectable after 8 weeks is amazing and didn't get much acknowledgment yet, but IMO eventually the love will come in mass. Here is a couple key quotes:

Quote:

---

In MBC, prior work demonstrated that CTC detection and enumeration defined two subgroups of patients, stage IV indolent (< 5 CTCs per 7.5 mL of blood) and stage IV aggressive (≥ 5 CTCs) [4, 5]. This staging has been previously validated to stratify patients into two predefined cohorts with dramatically different prognostic outcomes, regardless of tumor type, site of disease, or line of therapy.

---

Quote:

---

In comparison to CTCs, CTC clusters, which consist of aggregates of two or more cells, are encountered more rarely in the circulation. However, these cell groupings are associated with high metastatic potential, particular DNA methylation patterns, and potentially poor prognosis

---

https://www.biomedcentral.com/epdf/10.1186/s1...R-Pw%3D%3D

Please do your own due diligence. All my posts and comments are not to be considered investment advice.