CIRCULATING TUMOR CELLS: Another of nature's bad ideas.

In an English garden, somewhere along the Thames

 

As a member of the American Geophysical Union I have received a copy of a journal of the American Institute of Physics, free, for many years.  My free journal is called Physics Today, and is aimed at – I think – people with a science background and an interest in physics, but who are not specialists in the same.  At one time I wanted to be a physicist, but freshman physics at Caltech quickly cured me.  I scarcely ever even skim Physics Today, before tossing it on the “Absolutely Free” table outside the geology department office.  (They disappear: some closet physicist must roam our halls.)  But I did check the latest issue closely enough to find an interesting article on cancer, which I will tell you about.

Largely, cancers develop in some isolated spot, grow, and then spread their malign presence throughout the body.  The spreading is called metastasis, as I’m sure you know.  If a cancer can be pounced on and killed or excised before it starts metastasis, cure is not only possible, but probable.  After metastasis occurs the prognosis is much worse; most people who die of cancers such as ovarian die from the damage done by metastases and not from the original tumor.  So, what goes on in metastasis?

Well, what goes on is that nasty little things called “circulating tumor cells” (CTC) get into the bloodstream and get pumped all around the body.  They are bigger than normal blood cells, and more fragile, so many of them get stuck or broken up – but, unfortunately, rarely all of them croak.  Eventually some of these little missiles of doom find a safe harbor, anchor, and start multiplying.  Then the future is far less bright.

The existence of these CTCs has been known for some time, and potential uses of this knowledge have been proposed.  For instance: the initial appearance of CTCs in the blood might be a life-saving clue that a cancer has begun to grow.  Thus, CTCs conceivably could be the long-sought early warning signal for ovarian cancer, for instance.  The trouble is: it is damned hard to isolate CTCs, count them, and study them.  Physics Today being a physics journal, most of the article is given over to explaining clever processes for isolating and quantifying CTCs.  You should be thankful that I didn’t really understand these processes – or I would try to explain them to you.  But I didn’t, so you luck out.

Anyway, CTC-study might be a novel approach to dealing with some types of cancer.  Apparently my Hutch group considered pursuing this angle some time ago but gave up the idea, mainly (I gather) because of all the technical difficulties.  Maybe a new look would be worthwhile.

Personal note:  I am leaving Bellingham next Wednesday and will be at Carolyn’s place in Eureka by Thursday evening.  Then, unless she kicks me out sooner, I will leave the following Tuesday and be in Borrego Springs the next day.  ETA: 1730 hrs 3/5/14.  I will stay there until it gets too hot.