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Workshop on Minimal Residual Disease

Unequivocal identification of disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow by combining immunological and genetic approaches – functional and prognastic information

Leukemia volume 15, pages 275–277 (2001)Cite this article

The detection and quantification of disseminated tumor cells (DTC) present in the bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood (PB) and apheresis products (AP) are becoming increasingly significant in the treatment of cancer patients. Three different applications are implemented in the clinical practice of pediatric and adult solid tumor patients: (1) the identification of tumor cells in the BM and PB at diagnosis; (2) the response of occult tumor cells to high-dose chemotherapy; and (3) the presence of tumor cells in the autograft. In solid tumors the clinical significance of DTCs at diagnosis or during the course of the disease, usually termed minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, is still under debate. These indistinct results are mainly due to methodical reasons. Therefore, a fully automated system (RCDetect/metafer) combining the detection of ‘tumor-specific’ immunological features together with ‘tumor-typical’ DNA aberrations has been developed allowing the unambiguous visualization of tumor cells in a hematopoietic surrounding.

There is still an ongoing debate whether or not neuroblastoma (NB) patients with localized disease show disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow (BM) at diagnosis. Moss and coworkers1 observed tumor cell infiltrates in 34% of the stage I, II and III patients with immunocytochemical (ICC) approaches. They also found a correlation between the presence of DTCs and unfavorable outcome. PCR techniques also disclosed positive reactions in bone marrow samples from patients with localized disease.2 Data generated with a fluorescence-based detection system identified only one out of 128 NB patients with localized/regional disease (stages 1, 2A, 2B and 3) with a genetically verified tumor cell infiltrate (Méhes et al, submitted).

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  1. CCRI, St Anna Kinderspital, Kinderspitalg. 6, Vienna, A-1090, Austria

    PF Ambros, G Méhes, C Hattinger, IM Ambros, A Luegmayr, R Ladenstein & H Gadner

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Ambros, P., Méhes, G., Hattinger, C. et al. Unequivocal identification of disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow by combining immunological and genetic approaches – functional and prognastic information. Leukemia 15, 275–277 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402023

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