Micrometastases

A new study at the National Cancer Institute found that 30% of
women with early stage breast cancer already had micrometastases
in their bones at the time the early stage cancer was first
detected.

These tumor cells lie dormant, sometimes for many years, and then
can become active again. They aren't killed by chemotherapy
because chemo only kills actively dividing cells, and these cells
aren't dividing.

I suppose the same thing can happen in prostate and other
cancers, and may account for why so many people have recurrent
cancers even though they thought the surgery or radiation got it
all and they appeared to be cancer free for years.

Here's the press release for the study:

http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pre...OutreachBarkan

Alan

Alan, my Medical Oncologist spoke of micrometastases four years ago prior to
commencing the chemo trial. He was of the opinion that regardless of what
primary treatment I had under gone, it was too late and failure was assured
because of micrometastases had occurred prior to diagnosis of PCa.

He also said that the medical community can kill cancer (kill cells that are
dividing) however they have not found a way to kill what they can not
see.......

Gourd Dancer


"Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:g6vr80$jf3$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>A new study at the National Cancer Institute found that 30% of
> women with early stage breast cancer already had micrometastases
> in their bones at the time the early stage cancer was first
> detected.
>
> These tumor cells lie dormant, sometimes for many years, and then
> can become active again. They aren't killed by chemotherapy
> because chemo only kills actively dividing cells, and these cells
> aren't dividing.
>
> I suppose the same thing can happen in prostate and other
> cancers, and may account for why so many people have recurrent
> cancers even though they thought the surgery or radiation got it
> all and they appeared to be cancer free for years.
>
> Here's the press release for the study:
>
> http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pre...OutreachBarkan
>
> Alan

GD,

As your oncologist shows, the phenomenon seems to have been
understood for some time. I guess what the latest NCI
study contributes is that it quantifies it, showing for one
type of cancer how common micrometastases are.

One good thing about this is that some scientists are now
starting to focus on this problem. The first steps are to
understand these micrometastases. What causes them to occur?
Why are they dormant for so long? After lying dormant for
years, what causes them to become active again?

It will probably take years of basic biology research to
answer those questions, and more years to come up with
treatments based on the answers. But we'll get there
eventually.

Alan


Gourd Dancer wrote:
> Alan, my Medical Oncologist spoke of micrometastases four years ago prior to
> commencing the chemo trial. He was of the opinion that regardless of what
> primary treatment I had under gone, it was too late and failure was assured
> because of micrometastases had occurred prior to diagnosis of PCa.
>
> He also said that the medical community can kill cancer (kill cells that are
> dividing) however they have not found a way to kill what they can not
> see.......
>
> Gourd Dancer
>
>
> "Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:g6vr80$jf3$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>> A new study at the National Cancer Institute found that 30% of
>> women with early stage breast cancer already had micrometastases
>> in their bones at the time the early stage cancer was first
>> detected.
>>
>> These tumor cells lie dormant, sometimes for many years, and then
>> can become active again. They aren't killed by chemotherapy
>> because chemo only kills actively dividing cells, and these cells
>> aren't dividing.
>>
>> I suppose the same thing can happen in prostate and other
>> cancers, and may account for why so many people have recurrent
>> cancers even though they thought the surgery or radiation got it
>> all and they appeared to be cancer free for years.
>>
>> Here's the press release for the study:
>>
>> http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pre...OutreachBarkan
>>
>> Alan
>
>