循环肿瘤细胞研究进展及其在胰腺癌诊疗中的应用

Advances in the study of circulating tumor cells and its application in the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer

循环肿瘤细胞(circulating tumor cells,CTCs)是一种由原发肿瘤组织释放进入血液循环系统的肿瘤细胞。CTCs的释放受到上皮间质转化和多种病理生理过程的影响,在肿瘤的远处播散和转移中发挥了重要作用。最新研究显示CTCs具有多种基因型和表型亚群,部分CTCs表现出干细胞特征。由于CTCs在血液中数量稀少,CTCs的分离富集方法,培养、扩增和下游功能分析是当今肿瘤研究的一大挑战。研究表明,CTCs的检测结果、计数、特定的表面标志物与胰腺癌患者的辅助诊断、疗效判断和预后显著相关,显示出指导胰腺癌诊疗的重要意义,为实现胰腺癌的个体化诊疗提供了可靠的途径。

Circulating tumor cells（CTCs）are tumor cells released from primary tumor tissues and entering vascular system.The release of CTCs is mediated by epithelial-mesenchymal transition（EMT）and other pathological processes,which facilitates metastasis of cancers.Latest studies imply the existence of multiple genotypic and phenotypic subpopulations of CTCs,including cancer stem cells.Despite the scarcity of CTCs in circulation,encouraging progress has been made in cancer research to develop suitable techniques for enrichment,cultivation,proliferation and downstream analysis of CTCs.Significant correlation between pathological features of CTCs and prognoses of pancreatic cancer has been reported,suggesting apromising perspective of CTCs application in personalized pancreatic cancer treatment.