Body may keep a dormant cancer in check

From: Roman Bystrianyk (rbystrianyk_at_gmail.com)
Date: 12/20/04 

Date: 20 Dec 2004 14:23:03 -0800

"Body may keep a dormant cancer in check", Daily Times, Pakistan,
December 21, 2004,
Link:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-12-2004_pg6_14

Tumor cells found in the blood of breast cancer patients up to 20 years
after surgery suggest that the body may have ways of keeping a dormant
cancer in check, US researchers say.

One third of 36 former breast cancer patients were found to have the
cells, according to the the team at the University of Texas
Southwestern at Dallas.

The study, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, seems to
show the body can maintain a balance between tumor cell proliferation
and cell death. People who stay cancer-free may have a system for
keeping a tumor under control, the researchers said. Some of the
patients had undergone mastectomies 20 years before. Such people have a
low rate of cancer recurrence, but after about 20 years the risk rises
sharply to 20 percent - a condition called dormancy that doctors do
not understand. "Dormancy is a mysterious phenomenon that occurs in
certain types of cancer," said Dr. Jonathan Uhr, who led the study.
His team collected blood from 36 patients who had been free of cancer
for at least 7 years. Thirteen were found to havecirculating tumor
cells. Because these cells do not live long, Uhr said there must be
tiny, unseen tumors somewhere in the body producing them.

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