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Review
. 2019 Jul-Aug;33(4):1027-1037.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.11571.

Circulating Tumor Cells in Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Cancer

Vilem Maly  1   2 , Ondrej Maly  1 , Katarina Kolostova  1 , Vladimir Bobek  3   2   4   5   6
Affiliations
Review

Circulating Tumor Cells in Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Cancer

Vilem Maly et al. In Vivo. 2019 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), detached from the primary tumor or metastases and shed in the patient's bloodstream, represent a relatively easily obtainable sample of the cancer tissue that can indicate the actual state of cancer, and their evaluation can be repeated many times during the course of treatment. As part of liquid biopsy, evaluation of CTCs provides a lot of clinically relevant information, which reflects the actual, real-time conditions of the disease. CTCs can be used in cancer diagnosis or screening, real-time long-term disease monitoring and even therapy guidance. Their analysis can include their number, morphology, and biological features by using immunocytochemistry and all "-omic" technologies. This review describes methods of CTC isolation and potential clinical utilization in lung cancer.

Keywords: Circulating tumor cells; biomarker; culturing; liquid biopsy; lung cancer; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors have no conflict of interest regarding this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. CTC count monitoring including gene expression profiling of tumor associated (TA) and chemotherapy associated (CA) genes to guide therapy in time (41, 62).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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