Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Zurich, Switzerland.
Clin Exp Metastasis. 2023 Oct;40(5):375-394. doi: 10.1007/s10585-023-10224-8. Epub 2023 Jul 25.
Cancer cell invasion, intravasation and survival in the bloodstream are early steps of the metastatic process, pivotal to enabling the spread of cancer to distant tissues. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent a highly selected subpopulation of cancer cells that tamed these critical steps, and a better understanding of their biology and driving molecular principles may facilitate the development of novel tools to prevent metastasis. Here, we describe key research advances in this field, aiming at describing early metastasis-related processes such as collective invasion, shedding, and survival of CTCs in the bloodstream, paying particular attention to microenvironmental factors like hypoxia and mechanical stress, considered as important influencers of the metastatic journey.
癌细胞在血流中的侵袭、浸润和存活是转移过程的早期步骤，是癌症扩散到远处组织的关键。循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）代表了癌症细胞中经过精心筛选的一个亚群，更好地了解它们的生物学和驱动分子原理可能有助于开发新的工具来预防转移。在这里，我们描述了该领域的关键研究进展，旨在描述早期转移相关过程，如 CTC 在血流中的集体侵袭、脱落和存活，特别关注缺氧和机械应力等微环境因素，这些因素被认为是转移过程的重要影响因素。
