Department of Medical Oncology, IRCCS Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Via Piero Maroncelli 40, Meldola (FC), Italy.
Future Oncol. 2013 Sep;9(9):1337-52. doi: 10.2217/fon.13.101.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) could be considered a sign of tumor aggressiveness, but highly sensitive and specific methods of CTC detection are necessary owing to the rarity and heterogeneity of CTCs in peripheral blood. This review summarizes recent studies on tumor biology, with particular attention to the metastatic cascade, and the molecular characterization and clinical significance of CTCs. Recent technological approaches to enrich and detect these cells and challenges of CTCs for individualized cancer treatment are also discussed. This review also provides an insight into the positive and negative features of the future potential applications of CTC detection, which sometimes remains still a 'utopia', but its actual utility remains among the fastest growing research fields in oncology.
循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）可以被认为是肿瘤侵袭性的标志，但由于外周血中 CTC 的稀有性和异质性，需要高度敏感和特异的 CTC 检测方法。本综述总结了肿瘤生物学的最新研究进展，特别关注转移级联、CTC 的分子特征及其临床意义。还讨论了最近用于富集和检测这些细胞的技术方法以及 CTC 在个体化癌症治疗中的挑战。本综述还深入了解了 CTC 检测未来潜在应用的积极和消极特征，有时它仍然是一个“乌托邦”，但其实际应用仍然是肿瘤学中发展最快的研究领域之一。
