Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Jun 25;108(12):2426-32.
doi: 10.1038/bjc.2013.265. Epub 2013 Jun 11.

Clinical challenges in the molecular characterization of circulating tumour cells in breast cancer

E S Lianidou  1 , D Mavroudis, V Georgoulias
Affiliations
Review

Clinical challenges in the molecular characterization of circulating tumour cells in breast cancer

E S Lianidou et al. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

Blood testing for circulating tumour cells (CTC) has emerged as one of the hottest fields in cancer research. CTC detection and enumeration can serve as a 'liquid biopsy' and an early marker of response to systemic therapy, whereas their molecular characterisation has a strong potential to be translated to individualised targeted treatments and spare breast cancer (BC) patients unnecessary and ineffective therapies. Different analytical systems for CTC detection and isolation have been developed and new areas of research are directed towards developing novel assays for CTC molecular characterisation. Molecular characterisation of single CTC holds considerable promise for predictive biomarker assessment and to explore CTC heterogeneity. The application of extremely powerful next-generation sequencing technologies in the area of CTC molecular characterisation in combination with reliable single CTC isolation opens new frontiers for the management of patients in the near future. This review is mainly focused on the clinical potential of the molecular characterisation of CTC in BC.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Aguirre-Ghiso JA, Bragado P, Sosa MS. Metastasis awakening: targeting dormant cancer. Nat Med. 2013;19 (3:276–277. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aktas B, Tewes M, Fehm T, Hauch S, Kimmig R, Kasimir-Bauer S. Stem cell and epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers are frequently overexpressed in circulating tumor cells of metastatic breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res. 2009;11 (4:R46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alix-Panabières C, Pantel K. Circulating tumor cells: liquid biopsy of cancer. Clin Chem. 2013;59 (1:110–118. - PubMed
    1. Androulakis N, Agelaki S, Perraki M, Apostolaki S, Bozionelou V, Pallis A, Kalbakis K, Xyrafas A, Mavroudis D, Georgoulias V. Clinical relevance of circulating CK-19mRNA-positive tumour cells before front-line treatment in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Br J Cancer. 2012;106 (12:1917–1925. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banys M, Gruber I, Krawczyk N, Becker S, Kurth R, Wallwiener D, Jakubowska J, Hoffmann J, Rothmund R, Staebler A, Fehm T. Hematogenous and lymphatic tumor cell dissemination may be detected in patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012;131 (3:801–808. - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances