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Review
. 2017 Apr 18;8(33):55632-55645.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17184. eCollection 2017 Aug 15.

Clinical and biological significance of circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosomes as biomarkers in colorectal cancer

Shiyu Jia  1   2   3 , Rui Zhang  2   3 , Ziyang Li  2   3   4 , Jinming Li  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Clinical and biological significance of circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosomes as biomarkers in colorectal cancer

Shiyu Jia et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has been the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Owing to clonal evolution and selection, CRC treatment needs multimodal therapeutic approaches and due monitoring of tumor progression and therapeutic efficacy. Liquid biopsy, involving the use of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and exosomes, may offer a promising noninvasive alternative for diagnosis and for real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and therapeutic response compared to traditional tissue biopsy. Monitoring of the disease processes can enable clinicians to readily adopt a strategy based on optimal therapeutic decision-making. This article provides an overview of the significant advances and the current clinical and biological significance of CTCs, ctDNA, and exosomes in CRC, as well as a comparison of the main merits and demerits of these three components. The hurdles that need to be resolved and potential directions to be followed with respect to liquid biopsies for detection and therapy of CRC are also discussed.

Keywords: circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA); circulating tumor cells (CTCs); colorectal cancer (CRC); exosomes; liquid biopsy.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Circulating biomarkers in CRC patient (A) and the clinical application of liquid biopsy (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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