Progress of circulating tumor cells in clinical application / 国际肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs)are cancerous cells that shed from the primary tumor or metastases into the bloodstream. The currently clinical applicability of CTCs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)is that CTCs can be prognostic biomarker for patients with metastatic breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. CTCs also have great potential in the prognosis assessment of other meta-static or localized tumors,as well as early screening of tumors,analysis of molecular profiling,guiding treat-ment decisions,and monitoring of treatment response. Currently,various studies are being carried out to further explore the clinical application of CTCs,and provide new strategies and new prospects for individualized and precise treatment of cancer patients.