title: Circulating Tumor Cells: From Theory to Nanotechnology-Based Detection.
abstract: Cancer stem cells with stem-cell properties are regarded as tumor initiating cells. Sharing stem-cell properties, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are responsible for the development of metastasis, which significant affects CTC analysis in clinical practice. Due to their extremely low occurrence in blood, however, it is challenging to enumerate and analyze CTCs. Nanotechnology is able to address the problems of insufficient capture efficiency and low purity of CTCs owing to the unique structural and functional properties of nanomaterials, showing strong promise for CTC isolation and detection. In this review, we discuss the role of stem-like CTCs in metastases, provide insight into recent progress in CTC isolation and detection approaches using various nanoplatforms, and highlight the role of nanotechnology in the advancement of CTC research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Minghe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Ziwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Jianhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-sen UniversityGuangzhou, China; Department of Histology and Embryology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen UniversityGuangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jingxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Sanjun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: CTC isolation and detection; cancer stem cells; circulating tumor cells; metastasis; nanotechnology; stem-cell properties