Early Changes in Apoptosis and Proliferation to Predict Response and Resistance to Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Breast Cancer.
Abstract
The project has 2 interconnecting aims: (1) to confirm and extend the observations, that apoptosis is increased and proliferation is decreased in primary breast cancer shortly after chemo and endocrine therapy, such that the predictive power of these changes for clinical response can be assessed, (2) to develop an automated method for analyzing apoptosis in fine needle aspirates (FNAs) taken from breast carcinomas. Aim (1): we have confirmed that apoptosis significantly increases 24 hours after starting chemotherapy and demonstrated that proliferation also falls by a mean of approximately 30% at this time. We have shown that significant changes in proliferation after 21 days chemo, endocrine- or chemoendocrine-therapy occur only in groups responding to treatment. Predictive power remains to be assessed. Aim (2): initially encouraging findings from the application of flow cytometry to apoptotic measurements in FNAs involved the derivation of a statistical approach to the definition of the apoptotic population. The measurements correlated significantly with those made by conventional techniques on tissue sections. Further work indicates that flow cytometry is unlikely reliably to separate the apoptotic population but our preliminary work with Laser Scanning Cytometry indicates that this approach should be applicable to FNAs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA368573
Entities
People
- Mitchell Dowsett
Organizations
- Royal Marsden Hospital