Circulating tumour cells and circulating free nucleic acid as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in colorectal cancer

S. H. Lim, T. M. Becker, W. Chua, N. J. Caixeiro, W. L. Ng, N. Kienzle, A. Tognela, S. Lumba, J. E. J. Rasko, P. de Souza, K. J. Spring

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The detection of circulating tumour cells or circulating free tumour nucleic acids can potentially guide treatment and inform prognosis in colorectal cancer using minimally invasive "liquid biopsies". Current literature supports the notion that high circulating tumour cell counts or presence of tumour nucleic acid correlate with inferior clinical outcomes for patients, but they are not yet part of routine clinical care. Future research evolves around the examination of the molecular phenotype of circulating tumour cells. The key unanswered areas include differentiating between circulating tumour cell presence and their proliferative capacity and dormancy, identifying tumour heterogeneity and understanding the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)24-33
    Number of pages10
    JournalCancer Letters
    Volume346
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Keywords

    • DNA
    • circulating tumour cells
    • colorectal cancer
    • personalised cancer therapy
    • predictive biomarkers

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