Background & objective: Breast cancer, a whole body disease, can metastasize at early stage. This study was to explore the correlation of peripheral blood cancer cell (PBCC) content to distant metastasis of breast cancer.
Methods: The PBCC content of 65 breast cancer patients and 8 healthy donors was detected by multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCM) with CD45 and cytokeratin staining.
Results: Cancer cells were detected in peripheral blood samples from 57 of the 65 patients; the positive rate was 87.7%. No cancer cell was found in peripheral blood samples from healthy donors. The positive rate of PBCCs was correlated to T stage (r=0.271,P=0.017) and N stage (r=0.393, P=0.002). The patients were followed for 5 years; 2 were lost. Distant metastasis was found in 25 patients with PBCCs. In contrast, no metastasis was found in 8 patients without PBCCs (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Preoperative PBCC content is closely related to distant metastasis of breast cancer. The detection of PBCCs might be useful for individual treatment decision for breast cancer.