Journal
FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
Volume 5, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00034
Keywords
circulating tumor cells; molecular analysis; computational biology; metastasis; single-cell genomics
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Swiss Cancer League
- Basel Cancer League
- two Cantons of Basel through the ETH Zurich
- University of Basel
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Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are defined as those cells that detach from a cancerous lesion and enter the bloodstream. While generally most CTCs are subjected to high shear stress, anoikis signals, and immune attack in the circulatory system, few are able to survive and reach a distant organ in a viable state, possibly leading to metastasis formation. A large number of studies, both prospective and retrospective, have highlighted the association between CTC abundance and bad prognosis in patients with various cancer types. Yet, beyond CTC enumeration, much less is known about the distinction between metastatic and nonmetastatic CTCs, namely those features that enable only some CTCs to survive and seed a cancerous lesion at a distant site. In addition, critical aspects such as CTC heterogeneity, mechanisms that trigger CTC intravasation and extravasation, as well as vulnerabilities of metastatic CTCs subpopulations are poorly understood. In this short review, we highlight recent studies that successfully adopted functional and computational analysis to gain insights into CTC biology. We also discuss approaches to overcome challenges that are associated with CTC isolation, molecular and computational analysis, and speculate regarding few open questions that currently frame the CTC research field.
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