While most times in systemic drug delivery, an overexpressed biomarker is desired in both primary and metastatic metastases. However, if one was attempting to target solely the primary tumor, what biomarkers could be utilized that would not simultaneously target metastases?
Hi Kyle, this is a major question in most cancer diagnostics.
Circulating cancer cells (CTCs) from patient blood samples are identified by their expression of cytokeratin subtypes and EpCAM. The number of CTCs per 7.5 ml of blood is an indicator of how badly the patient is doing.
Sadly, there is currently no one-size-fits-all biomarker that identifies and targets all malignant primary tumor cells.
But stay tuned.
I completely agree with Dr Stefansson
now CTCs circulatory tumor cell are an indicator of tumor response to treatment and prognostic.
CTC research has much promise in early stages of cancer although more sensitive technologies are currently being researched. CTC research holds promise in molecular tumour characterization and identification of treatment targets in the nearest future.
- Badges
- Science method