Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells and Epithelial Progenitor Cells: A Comprehensive Study

Technological advancement to enhance tumor cells (TC) has allowed discovery of various cellular bio-markers: cancer stem cells (CSC), circulating tumor cells (CTC), and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). These are responsible for resistance, metastasis, and premetastatic conditions of cancer. Detection of CSC, CTC, and EPC assists in early diagnosis, recurrence prediction, and treatment efficacy. This review describes various methods to detect TC subpopulations such as in vivo assays (sphere-forming, serial dilution, and serial transplantation), in vitro assays (colony-forming cells, microsphere, side-population, surface antigen staining, aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, and Paul Karl Horan label-retaining cells, surface markers, nonenriched and enriched detection), reporter systems, and other analytical methods (flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy/spectroscopy, etc.). The detailed information on methods to detect CSC, CTC, and EPC in this review will assist investigators in successful prognosis, diagnosis, and cancer treatment with greater ease.