Abstract
AbstractCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells that have sloughed off the primary tumor and extravasate into and circulate in the blood. Understanding of the metastatic cascade of CTCs has tremendous potential for the identification of targets against cancer metastasis. Detecting these very rare CTCs among the massive blood cells is challenging. However, emerging technologies for CTCs detection have profoundly contributed to deepening investigation into the biology of CTCs and have facilitated their clinical application. Current technologies for the detection of CTCs are summarized herein, together with their advantages and disadvantages. The detection of CTCs is usually dependent on molecular markers, with the epithelial cell adhesion molecule being the most widely used, although molecular markers vary between different types of cancer. Properties associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and stemness have been identified in CTCs, indicating their increased metastatic capacity. Only a small proportion of CTCs can survive and eventually initiate metastases, suggesting that an interaction and modulation between CTCs and the hostile blood microenvironment is essential for CTC metastasis. Single-cell sequencing of CTCs has been extensively investigated, and has enabled researchers to reveal the genome and transcriptome of CTCs. Herein, we also review the clinical applications of CTCs, especially for monitoring response to cancer treatment and in evaluating prognosis. Hence, CTCs have and will continue to contribute to providing significant insights into metastatic processes and will open new avenues for useful clinical applications.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universitie
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference385 articles.
1. Sethi, N. & Kang, Y. Unravelling the complexity of metastasis-molecular understanding and targeted therapies. Nat. Rev. Cancer 11, 735–748 (2011).
2. Lambert, A. W., Pattabiraman, D. R. & Weinberg, R. A. Emerging biological principles of metastasis. Cell 168, 670–691 (2017).
3. Paget, S. The distribution of secondary growths in cancer of the breast. 1889. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 8, 98–101 (1989).
4. Jones, S. et al. Comparative lesion sequencing provides insights into tumor evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 4283–4288 (2008).
5. Ley, T. J. et al. DNA sequencing of a cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukaemia genome. Nature 456, 66–72 (2008).
Cited by
268 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献