Current Status of CTCs as Liquid Biopsy in Lung Cancer and Future Directions.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have garnered a lot of attention in the past few decades. Isolation of these rare cells from the billions of blood cells has been a challenge until recent times. With the advent of new sensitive technologies that permit live cell isolation and downstream genomic analysis, the existing paradigm of CTC research has evolved to explore clinical utility of these cells. CTCs have been identified as prognostic and pharmacodynamic biomarkers in many solid tumors, including lung cancer. As a means of liquid biopsy, CTCs could play a major role in the development of personalized medicine and targeted therapies. This review discusses the state of various isolation strategies, cell separation techniques and key studies that illustrate the application of liquid biopsy to lung cancer.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI , USA.
Zhuo
Z
Zhang
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI , USA ; Veterans Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System , Ann Arbor, MI , USA.
Nithya
N
Ramnath
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI , USA ; Translational Oncology Program, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI , USA.
Sunitha
S
Nagrath
circulating tumor cells; liquid biopsy; lung cancer; non-small-cell lung cancer; prognostic biomarkers; review of literature; small-cell lung cancer