Introduction

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) and more recently, CTC clusters are implicated as a fundamental mechanism by which tumor cells break away from the primary site and travel to distant sites. Enumeration of CTC and CTC clusters represents a new approach to prognosis, prediction, and response to therapy in patients with early and metastatic breast cancer. Several recent studies have shown the predictive importance of monitoring CTCs levels in progression-free and overall survival in breast cancer patients. This review will focus on CTC enumeration and characterization in breast cancers.

Areas covered

We will provide a historical perspective and clinical background of CTC detection in peripheral blood. The current methodologies for studying CTCs and newer technologies for CTC detection will be reviewed together with the current state of the art of CTCs as a biomarker in risk stratification and prognostication in breast cancers.

Expert opinion

Currently, there is an FDA approved CTC assessment method for clinical use. While CTC enumeration, is a marker for prognostication and survival, molecular characterization of CTC, may be more accurate in monitoring response to treatment due to tumor heterogeneity rather than the tumor phenotype at the primary or metastatic sites.

中文翻译：

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循环肿瘤细胞的计数和分子表征作为乳腺癌伴随诊断的创新工具。

介绍

循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 和最近的 CTC 簇被认为是肿瘤细胞脱离原发部位并迁移到远处部位的基本机制。CTC 和 CTC 簇的计数代表了早期和转移性乳腺癌患者预后、预测和治疗反应的新方法。最近的几项研究表明，监测 CTC 水平对乳腺癌患者的无进展生存期和总生存期具有预测意义。本综述将重点关注乳腺癌中的 CTC 计数和表征。

覆盖区域

我们将提供外周血 CTC 检测的历史视角和临床背景。研究 CTC 的当前方法和 CTC 检测的新技术将与 CTC 作为乳腺癌风险分层和预后的生物标志物的当前技术水平一起进行审查。

专家意见

目前，有一种 FDA 批准的 CTC 评估方法可用于临床。虽然 CTC 计数是预后和生存的标志物，但 CTC 的分子特征可能更准确地监测由于肿瘤异质性而不是原发或转移部位的肿瘤表型对治疗的反应。