Circulating Tumor Cells : Advances in Liquid Biopsy Technologies / [E-Book]

Part 1. CTC Technologies -- Affinity -- Physical -- ctDNA -- miRNA -- Exosomes -- Part 2 -- Biology of CTC -- Dormancy -- Culture -- EMT -- ctDNA and Exosomes -- Cells in circulation with CTC -- Part 3 -- CTC Analysis -- IHC, FISH, and other molecular assays -- Functional characterization -- Advanced microscopy and AI -- Analysis of non-cellular circulating markers -- Part 4 -- Clinical Applications of the Liquid Biopsy -- Early detection and cancer screening -- Prognosis and therapeutic monitoring -- Applications in Clinical Trials -- Applications in Drug Development.

It is well recognized that blood could be the optimal site for evaluating cancer, allowing easy and repeated access for determining prognosis, establishing molecular targets, evaluating the efficacy of therapy, detecting the earliest signs of recurrence, and even detecting cancer at its earliest and most curable stages. The analysis of cancer through blood samples is now known as the liquid biopsy and has been a rich source of research and clinical application. There has been an explosion of interest and progress in liquid biopsy technologies since the first edition of this book. The second edition will expand its focus to now include not only circulating tumor cells (CTC), but also other emerging aspects of the liquid biopsy, including circulating tumor DNA and methylated DNA (ctDNA, ct meDNA), ctRNA, ct miRNA, circulating tumor proteins (and other) biomarkers and circulating tumor derived exosomes (ctExosomes).