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The Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM) is the leading medical college for integrative medicine in Australia and New Zealand. Its annual conference is the flagship event in the ACNEM calendar, drawing both national and international participation. This year’s gathering, held on 3-4 July 2025, focused on the theme "Integrative Cancer Therapies" with sessions delivered and attended both in person in Melbourne, Australia, and via online streaming. The two-day event covered a broad spectrum of topics in cancer care - from evidence-based strategies in cancer biology to supportive therapies, nutritional medicine, lifestyle-related factors and innovative new treatment approaches.

Pachmann GmbH & Co. KG participated in the ACNEM Annual Conference 2025 with a presentation by Dr. Joachim Fluhrer, who explored the biology of cancer in depth, offering valuable insights into its complex mechanisms and implications for treatment.

As part of the conference, Dr. Fluhrer presented the poster:

"Tumorspheres Derived from Circulating Cancer Stem Cells as Surrogate Markers of Tumor Aggressiveness and Metastatic Burden in Breast Cancer" [M. Pizon, D. Schott, J. Fluhrer, K. Pachmann, 2025]

and showcased its maintrac^®  and stemtrac^®  methods for monitoring circulating tumor cells and cancer stem cells.

The poster highlights the role of circulating cancer stem cells (cCSCs) in metastasis, therapy resistance and relapse in breast cancer. In a study involving 98 breast cancer patients (stages I–IV), a tumorsphere assay was conducted using peripheral blood samples analyzed with the stemtrac^®  method. The results showed significant correlations between tumorsphere counts and disease stage, metastatic status, as well as markers of tumor aggressiveness such as HER2/neu-positivity, elevated Ki-67 index and higher histological grade.

The study confirms the potential of tumorspheres as a minimally invasive biomarker to assess tumor aggressiveness and metastatic risk. The abstract of this study and the poster are being published in the peer reviewed ACNEM Journal.

The poster generated strong interest and robust discussion among delegates. For many attendees, maintrac^®  was a new concept and the importance of detecting tumor stem cells was widely acknowledged as an emerging area of clinical significance. In collaboration with Genostics Australia, Dr. Fluhrer also exhibited the maintrac® services provided by Pachmann GmbH & Co. KG, detailing the associated logistics and laboratory processes for Australian and New Zealand practitioners and their patients. Overall, the 2025 ACNEM Annual Conference proved to be an engaging and informative event, providing a platform for sharing pioneering research, fostering professional collaboration and advancing the role of integrative medicine in cancer care.