Genetic heterogeneity of single disseminated tumour cells in minimal residual cancer
Authors: Klein, Christoph A and Blankenstein, Thomas JF and Schmidt-Kittler, Oleg and Petronio, Marco and Polzer, Bernhard and Stoecklein, Nikolas H and Riethmüller, Gert Year: 2002 Journal: The Lancet
Abstract
Background Because cancer patients with small tumours often relapse despite local and systemic treatment, we investigated the genetic variation of the precursors of distant metastasis at the stage of minimal residual disease. Disseminated tumour cells can be detected by epithelial markers in mesenchymal tissues and represent targets for adjuvant therapies.