Researchers have shown that a marker in tissue surrounding tumor cells is a new prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer. Absence of the market (caveolin-1) in stromal fibroblasts is associated with early disease recurrence, metastasis, and decreased patient survival. Stroma is non-cancerous connective tissue, which, in solid tumors, surrounds tumor cells. “The idea that a prognostic biomarker is present in the stroma rather than the epithelial cancer cell is paradigm-shifting," said Dr. Michael Lisanti, the senior of the study and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Pathology. “Importantly, these findings could be developed into a diagnostic test that would not require DNA-based technologies. This inexpensive and cost-effective test would allow doctors to identify high-risk breast cancer patients at diagnosis and treat them more aggressively.” The absence of caveolin-1 in the stroma also appeared to be a marker for drug resistance in patients receiving the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen, the researchers said. “These are significant findings that do have to be validated in prospective breast cancer clinical trials,”said Dr. Richard Pestell, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, and an author of the study. “However, we should start taking the breast tumor stroma into our clinical considerations sooner, rather than later.” The study appears in the May 1 online edition of American Journal of Pathology, together with another group’s study on stromal expression of caveolin-1 in breast cancer. A related study was published online in Cancer Biology & Therapy.Login Or Register To Read Full Story