Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Court, Colin M
• Ankeny, Jacob S
• Hou, Shuang
• Tseng, Hsian-Rong
• Tomlinson, James S

Titel

Improving pancreatic cancer diagnosis using circulating tumor cells: prospects for staging and single-cell analysis

Ist Teil von

• Expert review of molecular diagnostics, 2015-11, Vol.15 (11), p.1491-1504

Ort / Verlag

England: Informa Healthcare

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death in the USA, primarily due to late presentation coupled with an aggressive biology. The lack of adequate biomarkers for diagnosis and staging confound clinical decision-making and delay potentially effective therapies. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a promising new biomarker in PC. Preliminary studies have demonstrated their potential clinical utility, and newer CTC isolation platforms have the potential to provide clinicians access to tumor tissue in a reliable, real-time manner. Such a 'liquid biopsy' has been demonstrated in several cancers, and small studies have demonstrated its potential applications in PC. This article reviews the available literature on CTCs as a biomarker in PC and presents the latest innovations in CTC research as well as their potential applications in PC.