Relevance of circulating tumor cells, extracellular nucleic acids, and exosomes in breast cancer

Anne M. Friel, Claire Corcoran, John Crown, Lorraine O'Driscoll

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Early detection of cancer is vital to improved overall survival rates. At present, evidence is accumulating for the clinical value of detecting occult tumor cells in peripheral blood, plasma, and serum specimens from cancer patients. Both molecular and cellular approaches, which differ in sensitivity and specificity, have been used for such means. Circulating tumor cells and extracellular nucleic acids have been detected within blood, plasma, and sera of cancer patients. As the presence of malignant tumors are clinically determined and/or confirmed upon biopsy procurement-which in itself may have detrimental effects in terms of stimulating cancer progression/metastases- minimally invasive methods would be highly advantageous to the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer and the subsequent tailoring of targeted treatments for individuals, if reliable panels of biomarkers suitable for such an approach exist. Herein, we review the current advances made in the detection of such circulating tumor cells and nucleic acids, with particular emphasis on extracellular nucleic acids, specifically extracellular mRNAs and discuss their clinical relevance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)613-625
Number of pages13
JournalBreast Cancer Research and Treatment
Volume123
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2010

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Cancer stem cells
  • Circulating tumor cells
  • Exosomes
  • Extracellular nucleic acids

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