Do Circulating Tumor Cells, Exosomes, and Circulating Tumor Nucleic Acids Have Clinical Utility?

Diagnosing and screening for tumors through noninvasive means represent an important paradigm shift in precision medicine. In contrast to tissue biopsy, detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor nucleic acids provides a minimally invasive method for predictive and prognostic marker detection. This allows early and serial assessment of metastatic disease, including follow-up during remission, characterization of treatment effects, and clonal evolution. Isolation and characterization of CTCs and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are likely to improve cancer diagnosis, treatment, and minimal residual disease monitoring.

Source: Journal of Molecular Diagnostics - April 20, 2015 Category: Pathology Authors: Bert Gold, Milena Cankovic, Larissa V. Furtado, Frederick Meier, Christopher D. Gocke Tags: Special article Source Type: research