BACKGROUND Evaluation of cancer biomarkers from blood could significantly enable biomarker assessment by providing a relatively non-invasive source of representative tumor material. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) isolated from blood of metastatic cancer patients hold significant promise in this regard. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using spiked tumor-cells we evaluated CTC capture on differe...

BACKGROUND The detection and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are one of the most active areas of translational cancer research, with >400 clinical studies having included CTCs as a biomarker. The aims of research on CTCs include (a) estimation of the risk for metastatic relapse or metastatic progression (prognostic information), (b) stratification and real-time moni...

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh in women. During the past 20 years, the incidence of HCC has tripled while the 5-year survival rate has remained below 12%. The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC) reflects the aggressiveness nature of a tumor. Many attempts have been made to develop assays that reliably detect and enumerate the CTC during the development...

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can provide a non-invasive, repeatable snapshot of an individual patient's tumor. In prostate cancer, CTC enumeration has been extensively studied and validated as a prognostic tool and has received FDA clearance for use in monitoring advanced disease. More recently, CTC analysis has been shifting from enumeration to more sophisticated molecular characterization o...

As the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is mostly determined by the occurrence of distant metastases, circulating tumor cells (CTC) may be an attractive therapeutic target. Despite the rarity of CRCderived CTC, considerable progress has recently been made in the investigation of their molecular characteristics. In this review article we present recent clinical and molecular data on...

The local growth and metastatic potential of colorectal cancer is the outcome of a dynamic balance between cancer cells and the immune system, at both a local and systemic level, summarized as the “seed and soil” hypothesis. Until recently, the staging and treatment approaches for colorectal cancer appeared to be orientated predominantly to the ‘seed’ component, virtually neglecting, in daily c...

Abstract This study introduces a multicontraction microfluidic channel that can differentiate glioma cells from normal glio cells. As pass through successive constriction channels, the incremental velocity and varying size profiles of will be collected, reflecting their biophysical properties. The data high-dimensional variables were analyzed , including cell sizes, velocities, increments. pred...

Platelets are critical to hemostatic and immunological function, and are key players in cancer progression, metastasis, and cancer-related thrombosis. Platelets interact with immune cells to stimulate anti-tumor responses and can be activated by immune cells and tumor cells. Platelet activation can lead to complex interactions between platelets and tumor cells. Platelets facilitate cancer progr...