Title:Circulating Tumor Cells: A Reliable Biomarker for Prostate Cancer Treatment Assessment?
Volume: 18
Issue: 8
Author(s): Chiara Ciccarese, Rodolfo Montironi, Michelangelo Fiorentino, Guido Martignoni, Matteo Brunelli, Roberto Iacovelli, Antonio Lopez-Beltran, Liang Cheng, Marina Scarpelli, Holger Moch, Giampaolo Tortora and Francesco Massari*
Affiliation:
- Division of Oncology, S.Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna,Italy
Keywords:
Prostate cancer, mCRPC, circulating tumor cells, CTCs, biomarker, malignancy.
Abstract: Background: Prostate cancer is a common malignancy with highly molecular heterogeneity responsible
for a wide spectrum of clinical behavior. To date, several treatment options are available, whose selection is currently
based mainly on clinical criteria. Given the weakness of conventional imaging and PSA assay, the identification
of a prognostic and predictive biomarker for choosing the appropriate treatment and monitoring its efficacy is a
very topical issue in prostate cancer management. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have substantial promise for early
tumor diagnosis, disease recurrence and metastatic spread monitoring as well as for biological tumor characterization,
thus representing a reliable translational real-time biomarkers of prostate cancer.
Conclusion: This paper summarized the main data available about CTCs detection, their prognostic value, and their
potential predictive role for metastatic prostate cancer patients management.
