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Biodynamic Phenotypic and Epigenetics Changes of Circulating Tumor Cells: Their Application in Cancer Prognosis and Treatment

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Epigenetics Territory and Cancer

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on a deep description on Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) and its main role in cancer progression and genetic changes related to metastasis. In solid tumors, like breast and lung cancer, is being more frequent to appear patients with resistance to chemo and radiation therapy, this event will lead to decreasing quality of life as well as less efficient medical treatment. As it is known, CTCs are tumor cells disseminated from primary and metastatic sites and they are current tumor biomarkers. Therefore, CTCs will allow a more efficient tumor characterization and offering a more personalized medicine and treatment to specific patients. In this chapter, we offer a deeper analysis in CTCs characterization in Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) process, as well as epigenetic changes that are important for making a more specific characterization of CTCs. Epigenetic changes can lead to silence tumor suppressor and metastasis suppressors’ genes, in addition to being important hallmarks giving clues of growth, proliferation, and invasiveness of tumor cells. It is well known that microRNAs vary their concentration depending on the aggressiveness of the tumor as well as the epidermal characteristics of CTCs. Our main aim with this chapter is trying to give more clues on the genetic and phenotypic characterization of CTCs that will give important information in a personalized therapy, besides novel therapeutic targets and personalized medicine.

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Abbreviations

CTCs:

Circulating Tumor Cells

EMT:

Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition

MET:

Mesenchymal-to-Epithelial Transition

MMP:

Matrix Metalloproteinases

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GENYO (Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research), Granada, Spain

    Ma José Serrano Fernández, Ma Jesús Alvarez-Cubero, Jose Luis García Puche, F Gabriel Ortega & Jose Antonio Lorente

  2. Laboratory of Genetic Identification, Legal Medicine and Toxicology Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Ma José Serrano Fernández, Ma Jesús Alvarez-Cubero & Jose Antonio Lorente

Authors
  1. Ma José Serrano Fernández
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  2. Ma Jesús Alvarez-Cubero
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  3. Jose Luis García Puche
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  4. F Gabriel Ortega
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  5. Jose Antonio Lorente
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Antonio Lorente .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Department of Medical Genetics School Of Medicine, Tehran, Iran

    Parvin Mehdipour

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Fernández, M., Alvarez-Cubero, M., Puche, J., Ortega, F., Lorente, J. (2015). Biodynamic Phenotypic and Epigenetics Changes of Circulating Tumor Cells: Their Application in Cancer Prognosis and Treatment. In: Mehdipour, P. (eds) Epigenetics Territory and Cancer. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9639-2_2

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