Trial reportBMC cancer2013
Influence of zoledronic acid on disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow and survival: results of a prospective clinical trial.
Trial report in BMC cancer, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00172068 (Efficacy and Tolerability of Intravenous Zometa®), which is not on this map. Cited by 47 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Efficacy and Tolerability of Intravenous Zometa® (Zoledronic Acid) 4 mg in Primary Breast Cancer Patients With Disseminated Tumor Cells in Bone Marrow. A Prospective, Randomized, Parallel Group, Open-label, Clinical Pilot Study.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical and economic research of bone modifiers as adjuvant therapy for early breast cancer: A systematic literature review.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2025Pooled it
- Bone-modifying agents for reducing bone loss in women with early and locally advanced breast cancer: a network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Long-term outcome of (neo)adjuvant zoledronic acid therapy in locally advanced breast cancer.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2021Trial
- A phase II, multicentre trial evaluating the efficacy of de-escalated bisphosphonate therapy in metastatic breast cancer patients at low-risk of skeletal-related events.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2014Trial
- Intervening on dormancy to prevent breast cancer recurrence.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Article
- Sleepyhead, deadly awakening: the dynamics of metastatic organotropism, tumor dormancy and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Review
- Single-Cell Analysis of Bone-Marrow-Disseminated Tumour Cells.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- How much do we know about the metastatic process?Clinical & experimental metastasis · 2024Review
- Targeting cancer cell dormancy.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2024Article
- Dormancy in Breast Cancer.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2023Review
- Bone serves as a transfer station for secondary dissemination of breast cancer.Bone research · 2023Review
- Geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase: Role in human health, disease and potential therapeutic target.Clinical and translational medicine · 2023Review
- Bisphosphonates and Prevention of the Perimenopausal Breast Cancer Recurrence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of breast cancer · 2022Article
- Article
- Clinical and Biological Aspects of Disseminated Tumor Cells and Dormancy in Breast Cancer.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- Review
- Evaluation of disseminated tumor cells and circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer receiving adjuvant zoledronic acid.NPJ breast cancer · 2021Article
- Oestradiol Contributes to Differential Antitumour Effects of Adjuvant Zoledronic Acid Observed Between Pre- and Post-Menopausal Women.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTC) in bone marrow (BM) of breast cancer patients is associated with reduced clinical outcome. Bisphosphonate treatment was shown to eradicate DTC from BM in several studies. This controlled randomized open-label multi-center study aimed to investigate the influence of zoledronic acid (ZOL) on DTC and survival of breast cancer patients (Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT00172068).
methodsPatients with primary breast cancer and DTC-positive bone marrow were randomized to treatment with ZOL plus adjuvant systemic therapy (n = 40) or adjuvant systemic therapy alone (n = 46) between 03/2002 and 12/2004. DTC were identified by immunocytochemistry using the pancytokeratin antibody A45B/B3 and by cytomorphology. The change in DTC numbers at 12 months and 24 months versus baseline, as well as patient outcomes were evaluated.
results86 patients could be included into survival analysis (median follow-up: 88 months, range: 8-108 mths). Patients in the control group were more likely to die during follow-up than those in the ZOL-group (11% vs. 2%, p = 0.106). 15% of patients in the control group presented with relapse whereas only 8% of ZOL group patients developed metastatic or recurrent disease during follow-up (p = 0.205). At 24 months, 16% of patients from the control group were still DTC positive, whereas all patients treated with ZOL became DTC negative (p = 0.032). Patients presenting with persistent DTC 12 months after diagnosis had significantly shorter overall survival (p = 0.011).
conclusionsBisphosphonate therapy contributes to eradication of disseminated tumor cells. The positive influence of bisphosphonates on survival in the adjuvant setting may be due to their effects on DTC.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00172068 [Zoledronic Acid in the Treatment of Breast Cancer With Minimal Residual Disease in the Bone Marrow (MRD-1)].
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.