Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey.
School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Clin Exp Med. 2024 Nov 15;25(1):7. doi: 10.1007/s10238-024-01518-6.
Metastatic disease and cancer recurrence are the primary causes of cancer-related deaths. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are the driving forces behind the spread of cancer cells. The emergence and development of liquid biopsy using rare CTCs as a minimally invasive strategy for early-stage tumor detection and improved tumor management is a promising advancement in recent years. However, before blood sample analysis and clinical translation, precise isolation of CTCs from patients' blood based on their biophysical properties, followed by molecular identification of CTCs using single-cell multi-omics technologies is necessary to understand tumor heterogeneity and provide effective diagnosis and monitoring of cancer progression. Additionally, understanding the origin, morphological variation, and interaction between CTCs and the primary and metastatic tumor niche, as well as and regulatory immune cells, will offer new insights into the development of CTC-based advanced tumor targeting in the future clinical trials.
转移疾病和癌症复发是癌症相关死亡的主要原因。循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs）和播散肿瘤细胞（DTCs）是癌细胞扩散的驱动力。近年来，利用罕见的 CTC 作为一种微创策略进行早期肿瘤检测和改善肿瘤管理的液体活检的出现和发展是一个很有前景的进展。然而，在进行血液样本分析和临床转化之前，需要基于 CTC 的生物物理特性从患者的血液中精确分离 CTC，然后使用单细胞多组学技术对 CTC 进行分子鉴定，以了解肿瘤异质性，并提供有效的癌症进展诊断和监测。此外，了解 CTC 与原发和转移肿瘤生态位以及调节免疫细胞之间的起源、形态变化和相互作用，将为未来的临床试验中基于 CTC 的先进肿瘤靶向治疗提供新的见解。
