Detection of circulating tumor cells and real-time personalized cancer therapy / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Serious troubles were caused by the highly heterogeneous cancer cells in clinical cancer treatment.In recent years,molecular characterization of tumors and corresponding individualized cancer management has become hotspots for cancer research.Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are shed from primary solid tumors or metastases into the peripheral blood.CTCs could serve as liquid biopsy for patients with cancer,with non-invasive,real-time and repeatable access.Serial monitoring of the amount and molecular characteristics of CTCs in the blood samples has significant clinical value for prognostic prediction,targeted drugs choice and real-time evaluation of clinical effectiveness in individualized cancer treatment.This review summarizes current methods for the CTC isolation and detection,and discusses the perspectives of CTC analyses in real-time personalized cancer therapy.Some future research directions in this field are proposed.