Department of Bioengineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Genetics Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Pharmacol Ther. 2014 Feb;141(2):209-21. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2013.10.004. Epub 2013 Oct 14.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare cancer cells released from tumors into the bloodstream that are thought to have a key role in cancer metastasis. The presence of CTCs has been associated with worse prognosis in several major cancer types, including breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. There is considerable interest in CTC research and technologies for their potential use as cancer biomarkers that may enhance cancer diagnosis and prognosis, facilitate drug development, and improve the treatment of cancer patients. This review provides an update on recent progress in CTC isolation and molecular characterization technologies. Furthermore, the review covers significant advances and limitations in the clinical applications of CTC-based assays for cancer prognosis, response to anti-cancer therapies, and exploratory studies in biomarkers predictive of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapies.
循环肿瘤细胞(CTCs)是从肿瘤释放到血液中的罕见癌细胞,被认为在癌症转移中起关键作用。CTCs 的存在与几种主要癌症类型(包括乳腺癌、前列腺癌和结直肠癌)的预后不良相关。人们对 CTC 研究和技术非常感兴趣,因为它们可能作为癌症生物标志物具有增强癌症诊断和预后、促进药物开发和改善癌症患者治疗的潜力。本文综述了 CTC 分离和分子特征分析技术的最新进展。此外,还综述了基于 CTC 的检测在癌症预后、对抗癌治疗的反应以及对预测癌症治疗敏感性和耐药性的生物标志物的探索性研究中的重要进展和局限性。