Cell kinetic analysis of human breast carcinomas

Cell kinetic analysis performed on specimens of human breast carcinoma can provide clinically meaningful information. The thymidine labeling index (TLI) provides a measure of growth potential that shows strong inverse correlations with probability of early relapse after primary therapy and with estrogen receptor (ER) content. The TLI is independent of tumor size and lymph nodal status and therefore provides prognostic information within different stage classes. The TLI is prognostic for patients with negative axillary lymph nodes and could be used to select patients at high risk of early relapse for trials of adjuvant cytotoxic therapy. Flow cytometric measurement of nuclear DNA can yield cell kinetic information and in addition can define clones with abnormal DNA contents. Because of speed of analysis and automation, it offers a particularly interesting analytic technique for the investigation of breast carcinoma.