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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Circulating Tumor Cell Lines: an Innovative Tool for Fundamental and Translational Research
Published on: December 25, 2021
Circulating Tumor Cells as a Tool for Assessing Tumor Heterogeneity
Marta Tellez-Gabriel1, Marie-Françoise Heymann2,3,4, Dominique Heymann2,3,4
1RNA and molecular pathology (RAMP) research group. Department of Medical Biology. The Artic University of Norway (Tromso), Norway.
Abstract:
Tumor heterogeneity is the major cause of failure in cancer prognosis and prediction. Accurately detecting heterogeneity for the development of biomarkers and the detection of the clones resistant to therapy is one of the main goals of contemporary medicine. Metastases belong to the natural history of cancer. The present review gives an overview on the origin of tumor heterogeneity. Recent progress has made it possible to isolate and characterize circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are the drivers of the disease between the primary sites and metastatic foci. The most recent methods for characterizing CTCs are summarized and we discuss the power of CTC profiling for analyzing tumor heterogeneity in early and advanced diseases.
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