循环肿瘤细胞在结直肠癌临床诊疗中的应用

Application of circulating tumor cells in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer

循环肿瘤细胞(CTCs)是由肿瘤原发或转移灶自发脱落入外周血液循环的肿瘤细胞。CTCs在体内微环境调控下可发生间质上皮转变,又转变成具有上皮细胞表型的肿瘤细胞,重新获得上皮细胞特征并形成新的转移灶。研究表明,在结直肠癌中,CTCs的计数与肿瘤的分期分级、淋巴结转移数目、肝转移、肿瘤生物学标记物、KRAS基因突变等临床病理特点显著相关。该文综述了循环肿瘤细胞在结直肠癌临床诊疗中的应用。

Circulating tumor cells(CTCs) are spontaneously detached from primary or metastatic tumors and circulate in the bloodstream. Under the regulation of microenvironment in vivo, CTCs undergo mesenchymal-epithelial transition and transform into tumor cells with epithelial phenotype, which regains the characteristics of epithelial cells and generates new metastases. The numbers of CTCs in colorectal cancer are significantly correlated with the clinicopathological features including tumor stage and grade, lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis, tumor markers, and KRAS mutation. This paper reviews the application of CTCs in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.