title: The multiple personality disorder phenotype(s) of circulating endothelial cells in cancer.
abstract: Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and circulating endothelial progenitors (CEPs) are currently being investigated in a variety of diseases as markers of vascular turnover or damage and, also in the case of CEPs, vasculogenesis. CEPs appear to have a "catalytic" role in different steps of cancer progression and recurrence after therapy, and there are preclinical and clinical data suggesting that CEC enumeration might be useful to select and stratify patients who are candidates for anti-angiogenic treatments. In some types of cancer, CECs and CEPs might be one of the possible hidden identities of cancer stem cells. The definition of CEC and CEP phenotype and the standardization of CEC and CEP enumeration strategies are highly desirable goals in order to exploit these cells as reliable biomarkers in oncology clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: European Institute of Oncology, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. francesco.bertolini@ieo.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bertolini
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mancuso
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Braidotti
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shaked
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kerbel
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D002452:Cell Count; D002470:Cell Survival; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor