CTC
As circulating tumor cells remain in the bloodstream after extravasating from a primary tumor, they are able to move to other parts of the body, and seed metastatic tumors in other tissue or organs. They are known to be constantly evolving, carrying valuable information about disease progression and prognosis.
An increase in CTCs during cancer treatment can be a predictive marker for cancer progression. The-real time information from the number and characterization of CTCs thus has the potential to help clinicians develop customized therapies.
Future value
Since CTCs, an important indicator of cancer progression, are present in very small amounts in the blood, techniques, and approaches to reliably detect CTCs are needed.
The diagnostic and predictive information that can be accessed from CTCs are endless, and harnessing the full potential requires rigorous research and technology advancements.
CTC detection test is a non-invasive procedure that is more accessible than invasive tissue biopsy, which is able to guide you to a safe and optimal treatment route by acquiring a sample and monitoring the patient's condition.
The necessity of CTC-based diagnostics device
- CTC is present in almost all solid tumors.
- CTCs can be identified in the blood of patients with almost all solid tumors and exist in each stage of cancer progression and present different molecular signatures from a primary tumor.
- CTC provides information on all biomarkers including DNA, RNA, and protein.
- Real-time monitoring of cancer progression is possible.