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The Evolving Role of Circulating Tumor Cells in the Personalized Management of Breast Cancer: From Enumeration to Molecular Characterization

  • Translational Research (V Stearns, Section Editor)
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Current Breast Cancer Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent tumor cells in the blood stream dislodged from the primary tumor. The presence of CTCs in the bloodstream provides a unique opportunity to sample cancer tissue by means of a relatively less-invasive “liquid biopsy.” Over the past decade, there has been a tremendous increase in the amount of research examining the potential clinical utility of CTCs in the management of cancer. A number of techniques to refine the sensitivity and range of CTC assays are also in development. In this article, we review the recent developments in the current and potential clinical applications of CTCs in breast cancer. CTC enumeration already has an established role as a prognostic biomarker in metastatic breast cancer, whereas molecular characterization of CTCs can serve as a potential predictive biomarker for therapy selection, pharmacodynamic evaluation, and identification of novel actionable targets for novel therapies. The role of CTCs in breast cancer screening and detection of recurrence is currently limited. Further development in techniques will be pivotal in enhancing the broad applicability of CTCs and advancing the field of personalized breast cancer therapy.

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Conflict of Interest

Sasmit Sarangi, Kailash Mosulpuria, Michaela J. Higgins, Aditya Bardia declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, 10 N Grove St, Professional Office Bldg 214, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Sasmit Sarangi, Michaela J. Higgins & Aditya Bardia

  2. University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, USA

    Kailash Mosalpuria

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  1. Sasmit Sarangi
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  2. Kailash Mosalpuria
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  3. Michaela J. Higgins
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  4. Aditya Bardia
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Correspondence to Aditya Bardia.

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Sarangi, S., Mosalpuria, K., Higgins, M.J. et al. The Evolving Role of Circulating Tumor Cells in the Personalized Management of Breast Cancer: From Enumeration to Molecular Characterization. Curr Breast Cancer Rep 6, 146–153 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-014-0149-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-014-0149-9

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