Circulating tumor cells: the 'leukemic phase' of solid cancers.
It is well known that malignant cells circulate in the bloodstream of patients with solid tumors. However, the biological significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the clinical relevance of their detection are still debated. Besides technical issues regarding CTC-detection methods, discontinuous shedding of CTCs from established cancer deposits, genomic instability and metastatic inefficiency might underlie the conflicting results currently available. Nevertheless, technological advances and recent clinical findings are prompting researchers to dissect CTC biology further. Here, we review these recent findings, and discuss the prospects for the identification and molecular characterization of the CTC subset that is responsible for metastasis development. This would provide a formidable tool for prognosis evaluation, anticancer-drug development and, ultimately, cancer-therapy personalization.
Mocellin
Simone
S
Department of Oncological and Surgical Sciences, University of Padova, via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy. mocellins@hotmail.com
Keilholz
Ulrich
U
Rossi
Carlo Riccardo
CR
Nitti
Donato
D
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm