Circulating tumor cells are accessible indicators of real-time cancer biology Cancer is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, and despite therapeutic advances, it still represents the second leading cause of death worldwide (1). As cancers grow, evolve, and spread, they shed circulating tumor cells (CTCs), as well as other tumor-associated cells and products, into the bloodstream. Capturing and analyzing CTCs or other tumor-associated cells and products from a patient's blood sample can provide insight into a particular cancer's biology, response to treatment, and/ or potential therapeutic targets (2). CTCs are heterogeneous; a pressing question concerns which CTCs represent those directly involved in metastasis, the major cause of cancer-related death. On page 1468 of this issue, Ebright et al. (3) identify genes in patient-derived CTCs encoding ribosomal proteins (RPs) that were associated with metastatic progression in mouse models, poor outcome in patients, and alterations in global translation. These findings could point to potential biomarkers or targets for future metastatic cancer therapies.

中文翻译：

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从血液中破译癌症线索

循环肿瘤细胞是实时癌症生物学的可及指标 癌症与相当大的发病率和死亡率相关，尽管治疗取得了进展，但它仍然是全球第二大死亡原因 (1)。随着癌症的生长、进化和扩散，它们会将循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 以及其他肿瘤相关细胞和产物释放到血液中。从患者的血液样本中捕获和分析 CTC 或其他肿瘤相关细胞和产物可以深入了解特定癌症的生物学、对治疗的反应和/或潜在的治疗目标 (2)。CTC 是异质的；一个紧迫的问题是哪些 CTC 代表那些直接参与转移的 CTC，转移是癌症相关死亡的主要原因。在本期第 1468 页上，Ebright 等人。(3) 鉴定患者来源的 CTC 中编码核糖体蛋白 (RP) 的基因，这些基因与小鼠模型中的转移进展、患者的不良结果和全局翻译的改变有关。这些发现可能指向未来转移性癌症治疗的潜在生物标志物或目标。