TY - JOUR
T1 - Circulating tumor cells
T2 - The 'leukemic phase' of solid cancers
AU - Mocellin, Simone
AU - Keilholz, Ulrich
AU - Rossi, Carlo Riccardo
AU - Nitti, Donato
PY - 2006/3
Y1 - 2006/3
N2 - It is well known that malignant cells circulate in the bloodstream of patients with solid tumors. However, the biological significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the clinical relevance of their detection are still debated. Besides technical issues regarding CTC-detection methods, discontinuous shedding of CTCs from established cancer deposits, genomic instability and metastatic inefficiency might underlie the conflicting results currently available. Nevertheless, technological advances and recent clinical findings are prompting researchers to dissect CTC biology further. Here, we review these recent findings, and discuss the prospects for the identification and molecular characterization of the CTC subset that is responsible for metastasis development. This would provide a formidable tool for prognosis evaluation, anticancer-drug development and, ultimately, cancer-therapy personalization.
AB - It is well known that malignant cells circulate in the bloodstream of patients with solid tumors. However, the biological significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the clinical relevance of their detection are still debated. Besides technical issues regarding CTC-detection methods, discontinuous shedding of CTCs from established cancer deposits, genomic instability and metastatic inefficiency might underlie the conflicting results currently available. Nevertheless, technological advances and recent clinical findings are prompting researchers to dissect CTC biology further. Here, we review these recent findings, and discuss the prospects for the identification and molecular characterization of the CTC subset that is responsible for metastasis development. This would provide a formidable tool for prognosis evaluation, anticancer-drug development and, ultimately, cancer-therapy personalization.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.molmed.2006.01.006
DO - 10.1016/j.molmed.2006.01.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 16488189
AN - SCOPUS:33644981002
VL - 12
SP - 130
EP - 139
JO - Trends in Molecular Medicine
JF - Trends in Molecular Medicine
SN - 1471-4914
IS - 3
ER -