Certain types of cells in the circulating blood seem to be significant predictors of the spread of cancer in children, say French researchers.

Measuring levels of transmission of the endothelial cells and endothelial progenitor cells in 23 children with localized cancer, 22 children with metastatic cancer and 20 healthy children. Circulating endothelial cells are rare cells shed the lining of blood vessels after vascular injury. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells are precursors of endothelial cells.

“Not only these cells are found in higher levels of [cancer] patients compared to healthy volunteers, endothelial progenitor cells, but were found in significantly higher quantities in patients with metastatic disease,” Francoise Farace, director of the department biology of circulating cells in the Gustave Roussy Cancer Institute, said in a press release from the American Association for Cancer Research.

The finding that children with metastatic cancer had much higher levels of these cells from healthy children was a surprise, the researchers reported.

“This implies that this endothelial cell is most likely to play a role in the development of cancer in children,” Farace said. “There was also a wide range of cell levels in patients with various tumor types. In some cases, high levels were observed, which means that its role can be very important.”

The study appears in the July 15 Clinical Cancer Research.

Further research is needed to confirm whether these cells play a role in metastasis. If so, researchers have suggested, the levels of test cells may improve the early detection of metastatic cancer, and the cells may be targets for new drugs to prevent the spread of cancer.

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