title: The promise of circulating tumor cells for precision cancer therapy.
abstract: The rapidly growing array of therapeutic options in cancer requires informative biomarkers to guide the rational selection and precision application of appropriate therapies. Circulating biomarkers such as circulating tumor cells have immense potential as noninvasive, serial 'liquid biopsies' that may be more representative of the complete spectrum of a patient's individual malignancy than spatially and temporally restricted tumor biopsies. In this review, we discuss the current state-of-the-art in the isolation and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells as well as their utility in a wide range of clinical applications such as prognostics, treatment monitoring and identification of novel therapeutic targets and resistance mechanisms to enable real-time adjustments in the clinical management of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.|Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA.|Medical Scientist Training Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.|Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen
keywords: cancer; circulating tumor cells (CTCs); precision therapy; predictive marker; prognostic marker