It has been a problem in clinical practice that high recurrence and poor survival of patients with colorectal cancer undergoing surgery. As an easy-accessible, repetitive, non-invasive "liquid biopsy" technology, circulating tumor cells(CTC) can assist us in many fields, for instance, real-time monitoring tumor status and providing information about recurrence and prognosis of colorectal cancer. In this review, generation mechanism and relevant major regulation molecules of CTC will be elucidated, and principles, superiorities and inferiorities among different detection technologies were compared. Besides, clinical application and prognostic value of CTC in stage I-III colorectal caner were discussed, and the dilemma of low detection rate of CTC will be tried to solve as well.
Colorectal Neoplasms ; Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis

Acute pulmonary embolism is considered a cardiovascular emergency and is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Tumor embolism is a rare and unique complication of malignancies, and detached thrombi or tumors may cause massive pulmonary embolism in patients with malignancies. The identification of the type of pulmonary embolism is critical because treatment and prognosis vary considerably. We report an unusual presentation of a tumor embolism that was misdiagnosed as a pulmonary thromboembolism in a young woman. The patient was initially treated with the anti-coagulants warfarin and aspirin, but her symptoms were aggravated after two months and she required emergency surgery. Histology revealed a pulmonary embolism due to metastatic chondrosarcoma. Following surgery, her condition deteriorated, and she did not survive. This case highlights the need to investigate the cause of pulmonary embolism should the patient not respond to anti-coagulatant therapy.
Aspirin ; Chondrosarcoma ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Warfarin

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are defined as tumor cells circulating in the peripheral blood of patients, shed from either the primary tumor or from its metastases. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients may account for the different steps in the biologic progression of the disease. The detection of microscopic disease in patients with breast cancer is imperative to prognosis and can predict the efficacy of targeted treatments. In general, there are two main methods for their detection. These are based on cytometric and nucleic acid manipulation. Both methods generally require an enrichment step to increase sensitivity of the assay. This step is based on either detection of specific surface markers using immuno-selection and/or on morphological features, such as cell size or density. We review the methods of detecting CTCs, their prognostic implications, and opportunities to exploit the properties of CTCs to develop personalized therapy.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cell Size ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Nucleic Acids ; Prognosis

Cancer specimens obtained via surgical resection or biopsy are generally used to understand tumor-associated alterations; however, those approaches cannot always be performed because of their invasive nature, and they may fail to reflect current tumor dynamics and drug sensitivity, which may change during the therapeutic process. Therefore, many research groups have focused on developing a non-invasive biomarker with the ability to monitor tumor dynamics. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are metastatic cells released from the primary tumor into the bloodstream. Hematogenous spreading of CTCs is a crucial step in the metastatic cascade, which leads to the formation of overt metastases. CTCs have attracted considerable attention because of their easy accessibility and their superiority over conventional tumor markers. Detecting CTCs is considered a valuable modality to determine prognosis and monitor response to systemic therapies in patients with gastric cancer. Moreover, molecular analyses of CTCs may provide important biological information for individual patients with cancer, which may lead to the development of personalized cancer treatment. In this article, we review potential roles and clinical applications of CTCs in patients with gastric cancer.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; Biopsy ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) can be released from the primary lung tumour into the bloodstream and they may colonize distant organs and give rise to metastasis. The presence of CTCs in the blood has been documented more than a century ago, and ultrasensitive methods have been recently developed to detect circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients. Most CTCs require an initial enrichment step, since CTCs are a very rare event. The different technologies and also the differences among the screened populations make the clinical significance of detecting CTCs difficult to interpret. Peripheral blood analyses are more convenient for patients than invasive BM sampling and many research groups are currently assessing the clinical utility of CTCs for assessing the prognosis and monitoring the response to systemic therapies in lung cancer patients. Here we will review the different assays that are currently available for CTC detection and analysis of lung cancer. Moreover, molecular analyses of CTCs have provided new insights into the biology of metastasis of lung cancer with important implications for the clinical management of lung cancer patients.
Biology ; Colon ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis

Early detection and accurate monitoring of cancer is important for improving clinical outcomes. Endoscopic biopsy and/or surgical resection specimens are the gold standard for diagnosing gastric cancer and are also useful for selecting therapeutic strategies based on the analysis of genomic/immune parameters. However, these approaches cannot be easily performed because of their invasiveness and because these specimens do not always reflect tumor dynamics and drug sensitivities during therapeutic processes, especially chemotherapy. Accordingly, many researchers have tried to develop noninvasive novel biomarkers that can monitor real-time tumor dynamics for early diagnosis, prognostic evaluation, and prediction of recurrence and therapeutic efficacy. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are metastatic cells that are released from the primary tumors into the blood stream and comprise a crucial step in hematogenous metastasis. CTCs, as a liquid biopsy, have received a considerable amount of attention from researchers since they are easily accessible in peripheral blood, avoiding the invasiveness associated with traditional biopsy techniques; they can also be used to derive clinical information for monitoring disease status. In this review, with respect to CTCs, we summarize the metastatic cascade, detection methods, clinical applications, and prospects for patients with gastric cancer.
Biomarkers ; Biopsy ; Drug Therapy ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Recurrence ; Rivers ; Stomach Neoplasms

Circulating tumor cell (CTC), as a novel tumor marker, has the characteristics of non-invasive, dynamic monitoring and high accuracy, and provides precise molecular characteristics of tumors and helps understand the changes in tumor development. Therefore, CTC has important clinical value in the dynamic monitoring of tumor progression. In order to standardize and guide the application of CTC detection in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms, Gastric Cancer Group of Oncology Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Colorectal Cancer Professional Committee of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Colorectal Cancer Professional Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Gastric Cancer Professional Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Digestive Tract Polyp and Precancerous Lesion Professional Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, jointly convened some domestic experts to discuss and formulate the Chinese expert consensus on the application of circulating tumor cell detection in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms (2023 edition). The consensus provides opinions on the detection technology and clinical application of CTC detection in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms, including the prediction of tumor prognosis, the monitoring of tumor recurrence and metastasis, the evaluation of treatment response, and the additional diagnostic value, providing guidance for clinical application.
Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/therapy* ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating/pathology* ; Consensus ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Colorectal Neoplasms/therapy*

PURPOSE: Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) from bone marrow (BM) are a surrogate of minimal residual disease (MRD) in primary breast cancer (PBC) patients and associated with an adverse prognosis. However, BM sampling is an invasive procedure. Although there is growing evidence that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood are also suitable for monitoring MRD, data on the simultaneous detection of DTCs and CTCs are limited. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determined the presence of DTCs using immunocytochemistry and the pan-cytokeratin antibody A45-B/B3. CTCs were determined simultaneously using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-based assay (AdnaTest Breast Cancer) and CellSearch (at least one CTC per 7.5 mL blood). We compared the detection of DTCs and CTCs and evaluated their impact on disease-free and overall survival. RESULTS: Of 585 patients, 131 (22%) were positive for DTCs; 19 of 202 (9%) and 18 of 383 (5%) patients were positive for CTCs, as shown by AdnaTest and CellSearch, respectively. No significant association was observed between DTCs and CTCs (p=0.248 and p=0.146 as shown by AdnaTest and CellSearch, respectively). The presence of DTCs (p=0.046) and the presence of CTCs as shown by CellSearch (p=0.007) were predictive of disease-free survival. CONCLUSION: Our data confirm the prognostic relevance of DTCs and CTCs in patients with PBC. As we found no significant relationship between DTCs and CTCs, prospective trials should include their simultaneous detection. Within those trials, the question of whether or not DTCs and CTCs are independent subpopulations of malignant cell clones should be determined by molecular characterization.
Bone Marrow ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Clone Cells ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating* ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies

Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; drug therapy ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; drug therapy ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells that are separated from the primary site or metastatic lesion and disseminate in blood circulation. CTCs are considered to be part of the long process of cancer metastasis. As a 'liquid biopsy', CTC molecular examination and investigation of single cancer cells create an important opportunity for providing an understanding of cancer biology and the process of metastasis. In the last decade, we have seen dramatic development in defining the role of CTCs in lung cancer in terms of diagnosis, genomic alteration determination, treatment response and, finally, prognosis prediction. The aims of this review are to understand the basic biology and to review methods of detection of CTCs that apply to the various types of solid tumor. Furthermore, we explored clinical applications, including treatment monitoring to anticipate therapy resistance as well as biomarker analysis, in the context of lung cancer. We also explored the potential use of cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the genomic alteration analysis of lung cancer.
Biology ; Blood Circulation ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; DNA, Neoplasm ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; Methods ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis