Advances of In Vivo Flow Cytometry on Cancer Studies

Cancer is a big threat to human life. Asia has about 60% of the global population and accounts for half of global cancer incidence and mortality. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been a good biomarker for cancer diagnosis, staging, and prognosis. Conventional detection methods of CTCs require drawing blood. It may disturb the biological environment and limited real-time monitoring. in vivo flow cytometry (IVFC) is a burgeoning technique that allows noninvasive detection of CTCs in vivo. Here, we review the technical development of IVFC based on various contrast principles, including fluorescence IVFC, photoacoustic IVFC, imaging IVFC, and label-free IVFC. This powerful tool has been applied widely in many areas of cancer-related studies, especially the CTC studies. We review applications of IVFC in preclinical studies on prevalent cancers in Asia, including liver cancer, blood cancer, and so forth. Other cancer-related studies in breast cancer, prostate cancer, cancer-related stem cell research and drug studies are also reviewed. © 2019 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.