Organ-Specific Markers in Circulating Tumor Cell Screening: An Early Indicator of Metastasis-Capable Malignancy

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent an important biological link in the spread of primary solid tumors to the metastatic disease responsible for most cancer mortality. Their detection in the peripheral blood of patients with many different carcinomas has shown that tumor-cell dissemination can proceed at an early stage of tumor development and their presence is associated with poor clinical outcomes, particularly in metastatic disease. In this article we describe how the increasingly sensitive isolation and detailed molecular characterization of CTCs has greatly improved our understanding of metastatic proliferation. We focus on how CTC detection and knowledge of the molecular architecture of these cells can serve as biomarkers to signal metastasis-capable disseminating cells and predict therapy-specific response. This has marked clinical utility for improved selection of systemic therapies to the individual needs of a cancer patient, real-time monitoring of metastatic disease treatments and the development of new targeted therapies.

Pilot Study on “Pericytic Mimicry” and Potential Embryonic/Stem Cell Properties of Angiotropic Melanoma Cells Interacting with the Abluminal Vascular Surface

“…The interaction of tumor cells with the tumor vasculature is mainly studied for its role in tumor blood supply (tumor angiogenesis) [1], and intravascular metastasis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) [2,3]. A third interaction of cancer cells with vessels has also been described through the association of melanoma cells (MC) with the abluminal surfaces of vessels, or angiotropism [4].…”

Cellules tumorales circulantes : pierre angulaire de la médecine personnalisée

“…Ce kit repose sur l'enrichissement des CTCs par des billes magnétiques anti-MUC1 et anti-EpCAM puis la quantification des ARNm de GA 733.2, HER2 et EpCAM. En ce qui concerne les systèmes de filtration sur membrane, différentes technologies ont fait leurs preuves (RareCell) [19,20].…”

Tumor-Initiating Cells: Emerging Biophysical Methods of Isolation

“…A significant amount of research has been done on CTCs since they can be used as a tool for cancer prognostic and other clinical applications [53–55]. Although they have been reported to be more aggressive than other cancer cells [56, 57], it is important to note that not all CTCs are TICs, but rather a fraction of them are [52, 55, 58, 59]. The CTCs that do not have the plasticity characteristic of the TIC phenotype are not capable of forming secondary tumors [55], suggesting that a cell needs to have properties of both CTCs and TICs in order to successfully metastasize [52].…”

“…Although they have been reported to be more aggressive than other cancer cells [56, 57], it is important to note that not all CTCs are TICs, but rather a fraction of them are [52, 55, 58, 59]. The CTCs that do not have the plasticity characteristic of the TIC phenotype are not capable of forming secondary tumors [55], suggesting that a cell needs to have properties of both CTCs and TICs in order to successfully metastasize [52]. A significant number of systems for CTC detection and isolation have been developed as discussed elsewhere [52, 55].…”