Circulating tumor cells in lung carcinogenesis: minireview.

Metastasis development causes death in over 90% of cancer patients, and understanding the underlying biological features has long been hindered by difficulties in studying the widespread cancerous lesions and the absence of reliable methods of isolating and detecting viable metastatic cells during disease progression. These problems have an adverse impact on developing new agents capable of blocking cancer spread. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have a crucial role in carcinogenesis, and this review presents advanced understanding of the characteristics of CTCs and CTC cluster metastatic properties. CTC analysis could well be more valuable for the biomarker profile than tissue biopsies, and herein we highlight current research findings which have the potential to improve clinical management of lung cancer patients. We also discuss problems in CTCs and CTC cluster biology, the limitations of detection methods and possible future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the study of circulating cells.