Circulating tumour cell detection on its way to routine diagnostic implementation?
Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) have been considered for a long time in reflecting the aggressiveness of tumours. As a result, many attempts have been made to develop assays that reliably detect and enumerate CTCs, but only recently have such assays been available. The first clinical results obtained with such assays strongly suggest that in some tumour types, CTC detection and enumeration can be used to estimate prognosis and may serve as an early marker to assess anti-tumour activity of a treatment. Furthermore, through technical advances, CTCs can be characterised for several features, which may shortly yield better prognostic and predictive classification systems and may also provide improved insight into biological processes including dissemination, drug resistance and treatment-induced cell death. This review addresses CTCs, and in particular, technical issues concerning their detection, clinical results obtained so far, and future perspectives.
Sleijfer
Stefan
S
Department of Medical Oncology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Daniel den Hoed Cancer Clinic, Groene Hilledijk 301, 3075 EA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. s.sleijfer@erasmusmc.nl
Gratama
Jan-Willem
JW
Sieuwerts
Anieta M
AM
Kraan
Jaco
J
Martens
John W M
JW
Foekens
John A
JA
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor