Methods for detection of circulating tumour cells and their clinical value in cancer patients

Currently available analytical methods enable identification, detection and characterization of circulating tumour cells in the peripheral blood and disseminated tumour cells in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients. About 0.01 % of the circulating tumour cells observed in the blood are able to form metastases. Therefore, they could be used for estimation of the risk for metastatic relapse, as a diagnostic tool for patient stratification, early determination of the therapy failure, or potential risk of resistance to the given therapeutic intervention. New therapeutic molecular targets could be identified for management of cancer patients using circulating tumour cell detection. The following review summarizes introduced methods of circulating tumour cell detection and their possible application in clinics.