[Cell proliferation and cell death in disseminated tumor cells]

The occurrence of occult metastases of solid tumors at initial diagnosis or during follow-up is of crucial therapeutical importance. The sensitive detection of such cells in hematological samples depends on tissue specific cellular markers. The demonstration of minimally disseminated tumor cells at a given timepoint is, however, only a snapshot, which does not give any information about the potential and dynamics of the cells in question. Functional differences may fundamentally influence the impact of a positive finding. The analysis of cell proliferation and cell death (apoptosis) in disseminated tumor cells, for instance, defines, whether the dissemination process is progressive or regressive. With a newly developed automatic image analysis station the investigation of functional parameters in isolated cells from clinical samples became possible. The studies presented here demonstrate, that such techniques allow an improved identification of isolated tumor cells with clinical importance.