Li Ka Shing Cell & Gene Therapy Program, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia.
Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 31;23(3):1671. doi: 10.3390/ijms23031671.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most frequent pancreatic cancer type, characterized by a dismal prognosis due to late diagnosis, frequent metastases, and limited therapeutic response to standard chemotherapy. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a rare subset of tumor cells found in the blood of cancer patients. CTCs has the potential utility for screening, early and definitive diagnosis, prognostic and predictive assessment, and offers the potential for personalized management. However, a gold-standard CTC detection and enrichment method remains elusive, hindering comprehensive comparisons between studies. In this review, we summarize data regarding the utility of CTCs at different stages of PDAC from early to metastatic disease and discuss the molecular profiling and culture of CTCs. The characterization of CTCs brings us closer to defining the specific CTC subpopulation responsible for metastasis with the potential to uncover new therapies and more effective management options for PDAC.
胰腺导管腺癌 (PDAC) 是最常见的胰腺癌类型，由于诊断较晚、经常发生转移以及对标准化疗的反应有限，其预后较差。循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 是在癌症患者血液中发现的肿瘤细胞的罕见亚群。CTC 具有用于筛查、早期和明确诊断、预后和预测评估的潜在效用，并为个性化管理提供了潜力。然而，一种黄金标准的 CTC 检测和富集方法仍然难以捉摸，这阻碍了不同研究之间的全面比较。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 CTC 在 PDAC 从早期到转移疾病不同阶段的应用数据，并讨论了 CTC 的分子特征分析和培养。CTC 的特征分析使我们更接近于确定负责转移的特定 CTC 亚群，从而有可能发现新的治疗方法和更有效的 PDAC 管理选择。
