Research progress on circulating tumor cells of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the cells released from the primary tumor and found in the peripheral blood, which can colonize and develop at a distance through blood circulation. At present, the commonly used separation and detection methods of CTCs are mainly divided into physical methods, biological methods, and microfluidic chip-based methods. Monitoring CTC count and cell phenotype is of great significance for early screening and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Moreover, the CTC count and cell phenotype are related to assessing the clinical efficacy of the treatment of HCC and the clinical stage of HCC patients. The CTCs count is also closely related to the overall survival, progression-free survival, and postoperative recurrence of patients with HCC.