Have a personal or library account? Click to login

The biology and clinical potential of circulating tumor cells

Radiology and Oncology
Volume 53 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019)
By:
Open Access
|May 2019

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can enter the blood vessel via active intravasation involving epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) or by passive shedding due to compromised tumor vasculature. CTCs can exist in different phenotypes- epithelial, mesenchymal or both- hybrid epithelial/ mesenchymal phenotype (hybrid E/M). CTCs can be found in the form of individual cells or cell clusters; the latter show increased metastatic potential compared to individual CTCs. Platelet-CTC interaction in the blood vessel acts as a shield against the shear stress of blood flow, immune attack and also enables the adhesion to the blood vessel wall and extravasation. After the arrest of CTCs in the bone marrow or distant organ, they can extravasate and remain in the target tissue in the form of disseminated tumor cell (DTC).
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can enter the blood vessel via active intravasation involving epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) or by passive shedding due to compromised tumor vasculature. CTCs can exist in different phenotypes- epithelial, mesenchymal or both- hybrid epithelial/ mesenchymal phenotype (hybrid E/M). CTCs can be found in the form of individual cells or cell clusters; the latter show increased metastatic potential compared to individual CTCs. Platelet-CTC interaction in the blood vessel acts as a shield against the shear stress of blood flow, immune attack and also enables the adhesion to the blood vessel wall and extravasation. After the arrest of CTCs in the bone marrow or distant organ, they can extravasate and remain in the target tissue in the form of disseminated tumor cell (DTC).

Figure 2

Clinical applications of CTCs.
Clinical applications of CTCs.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2019-0024 | Journal eISSN: 1581-3207 | Journal ISSN: 1318-2099
Journal RSS Feed
Language: English
Page range: 131 - 147
Submitted on: Mar 23, 2019
Accepted on: May 3, 2019
Published on: May 8, 2019
Published by: Association of Radiology and Oncology
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year
Keywords:
circulating tumor cells,
CTC,
metastasis,
liquid biopsy,
cancer,
disseminated tumor cells
Related subjects:
Medicine,
Clinical medicine,
Internal medicine,
Haematology, oncology,
Radiology

© 2019 Taja Lozar, Klara Gersak, Maja Cemazar, Cvetka Grasic Kuhar, Tanja Jesenko, published by Association of Radiology and Oncology
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Volume 53 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019)Next article