CTCs 2020: Great Expectations or Unreasonable Dreams.
Elisabetta RossiFrancesco FabbriPublished in: Cells (2019)
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cellular elements that can be scattered into the bloodstream from primary cancer, metastasis, and even from a disseminated tumor cell (DTC) reservoir. CTCs are "seeds", able to give rise to new metastatic lesions. Since metastases are the cause of about 90% of cancer-related deaths, the significance of CTCs is unquestionable. However, two major issues have stalled their full clinical exploitation: rarity and heterogeneity. Therefore, their full clinical potential has only been predicted. Finding new ways of studying and using such tremendously rare and important events can open new areas of research in the field of cancer research, and could drastically improve tumor companion diagnostics, personalized treatment strategies, overall patients management, and reduce healthcare costs.
Keyphrases
- circulating tumor cells
- papillary thyroid
- healthcare
- end stage renal disease
- circulating tumor
- single cell
- squamous cell
- chronic kidney disease
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- small cell lung cancer
- prognostic factors
- peritoneal dialysis
- minimally invasive
- bone marrow
- risk assessment
- escherichia coli
- young adults
- childhood cancer
- patient reported outcomes
- water quality