Department of Cytokinetics, Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
Cell Death Dis. 2023 Aug 17;14(8):530. doi: 10.1038/s41419-023-06059-6.
Despite the advancements made in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the stages associated with metastasis remain largely incurable and represent the primary cause of cancer-related deaths. The dissemination of cancer is facilitated by circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which originate from the primary tumor or metastatic sites and enter the bloodstream, subsequently spreading to distant parts of the body. CTCs have garnered significant attention in research due to their accessibility in peripheral blood, despite their low abundance. They are being extensively studied to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying cancer dissemination and to identify effective therapeutic strategies for advanced stages of the disease. Therefore, substantial efforts have been directed towards establishing and characterizing relevant experimental models derived from CTCs, aiming to provide relevant tools for research. In this review, we provide an overview of recent progress in the establishment of preclinical CTC-derived models, such as CTC-derived xenografts (CDX) and cell cultures, which show promise for the study of CTCs. We discuss the advantages and limitations of these models and conclude by summarizing the potential future use of CTCs and CTC-derived models in cancer treatment decisions and their utility as precision medicine tools.
尽管在癌症的诊断和治疗方面取得了进展，但与转移相关的阶段在很大程度上仍然无法治愈，是癌症相关死亡的主要原因。循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 促进了癌症的扩散，这些细胞来源于原发肿瘤或转移部位，并进入血液，随后扩散到身体的远处。CTC 因其在外周血液中的可及性而受到研究的广泛关注，尽管它们的数量很少。正在对其进行广泛研究，以深入了解癌症扩散的机制，并为疾病的晚期阶段确定有效的治疗策略。因此，已经投入大量精力来建立和表征源自 CTC 的相关实验模型，旨在为研究提供相关工具。在这篇综述中，我们概述了最近在建立源自 CTC 的临床前模型方面的进展，例如 CTC 衍生的异种移植物 (CDX) 和细胞培养物，这些模型显示出了研究 CTC 的潜力。我们讨论了这些模型的优缺点，并总结了 CTC 和 CTC 衍生模型在癌症治疗决策中的潜在未来用途及其作为精准医学工具的实用性。
