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CTCs in Solid Tumors. Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer

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Atlas of Liquid Biopsy

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Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have a prognostic role in breast cancer (BC). The spread of hematogenic tumor cells is a crucial step in tumor progression, and blood-derived metastases are responsible for most breast cancer-related deaths. The identification and characterization of CTCs in the blood can provide prognostic information and help to identify patients who need more aggressive therapies and in monitoring treatment. Currently there are a multitude of assays for the detection of circulating tumor cells, but an extremely limited number of studies comparing the clinical relevance of the results with different test methods. Recently, breast cancer is the type of cancer in which CTC has been most studied, contributing to the clinical validity of CTC count both in early and metastatic stages. This chapter focuses on the possibility of the clinical applicability of CTCs in patients with breast cancer, in addition to demonstrating and comparing the CellSearch system (approved by the Food and Drug Administration – FDA) and ISET® Technology – Rarecells (Isolation by SizE of Tumor Cells) used for the identification and cytopathological characterization of CTCs. Therefore, we can state that the biological role of CTC as metastatic “seeds” and its corresponding clinical prognostic impact guarantee the use of CTC as an important biological and clinical tool in patients with BC.

Figures separated by Ludmilla T.D. Chinen and revised by Mauro Saieg (Cytopathologist from AC Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, SP – Brasil)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AC Camargo Cancer Center, Department of Radiation Oncology, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Douglas Guedes de Castro & Felipe Ko Chen

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  1. Douglas Guedes de Castro
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  2. Felipe Ko Chen
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Correspondence to Douglas Guedes de Castro .

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  1. AC Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Ludmilla Thomé Domingos Chinen

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de Castro, D.G., Chen, F.K. (2021). CTCs in Solid Tumors. Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer. In: Chinen, L.T.D. (eds) Atlas of Liquid Biopsy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69879-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69879-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69878-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-69879-9

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