How far we have come in Circulating Tumor Cells detection?

Abstract

Fluid biopsies dependent upon recognition and profiling of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) offer a non-obtrusive instrument, encouraging unanticipated disease analysis and treatment monitoring. CTCs attack the remote organs by means of the circulatory framework. It has been assessed that primary tumor tosses a million cells day by day into dissemination. Notwithstanding, the majority of these cells bite the dust in the circulatory framework and just the fittest achieve the ordained area to cause secondary tumors. The identification of CTCs in the blood and their characterization can furnish knowledge into the metastatic potential of the primary tumor and the phase of the metastasis. This review aims to provide the reader a glimpse of CTCs, their importance in tumor recognition, different systems for distinguishing and separation of CTCs from blood, their characterization and the challenges ahead to make CTCs a dependable and effective diagnostic device. Such advancement will possibly exchange traditional biopsy presenting new period of customised cancer management.

Keywords: circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cancer stem cells (CSCs), tumor heterogeneity, human epithelial growth receptor 2 (HER2), estrogen receptor alpha (ER?), circulating tumor materials (CTMat), aptamers, AuNP (silver nanoparticles), PCR (polymerase chain reaction)