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Quantitative Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Using RNA-Based Digital Scoring

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Tumor Liquid Biopsies

Part of the book series: Recent Results in Cancer Research ((RECENTCANCER,volume 215))

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) provide valuable information about the molecular evolution of cancers, as they may initially respond and ultimately progress on therapy. As intact tumor cells isolated from the bloodstream, CTCs also enable assessment of heterogeneous subpopulations, and their analysis may include DNA, RNA, and protein biomarkers. New microfluidic cell isolation strategies greatly facilitate the challenge of enriching viable tumor cells from the billions of hematopoietic cells within a standard blood specimen. While counting and characterization of enriched CTCs have primarily relied on immunostaining for tumor cell-specific antigens, new RNA-based analytic platforms are providing new insight into the identity of CTCs and providing new tools for clinical applications. Single-cell RNA sequencing of CTCs reveals a high degree of heterogeneity among cancer cells from a single individual, while new digital RNA-based amplification platforms may now allow high-sensitivity and high-throughput quantitative scoring of CTCs for clinical applications. Here, we focus on transcriptomic analysis of CTCs and its relevance in understanding metastatic cancer progression and in developing diagnostic assays to monitor cancer.

Mark Kalinich and Tanya T. Kwan contributed equally to this work.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA

      Mark Kalinich, Tanya T. Kwan, Daniel A. Haber & Shyamala Maheswaran

    2. Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Engineering in Medicine, Department of Surgery, and Shriner’s Children Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA

      Mehmet Toner

    3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA

      Daniel A. Haber

    Authors
    1. Mark Kalinich
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    2. Tanya T. Kwan
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    3. Mehmet Toner
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    4. Daniel A. Haber
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    5. Shyamala Maheswaran
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Shyamala Maheswaran .

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    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Cancéropôle Est , Strasbourg, France

      Florence Schaffner

    2. Institut de Cancérologie de Lorraine, CNRS UMR7039 CRAN, Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

      Jean-Louis Merlin

    3. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Medical Center, University of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany

      Nikolas von Bubnoff

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    Kalinich, M., Kwan, T.T., Toner, M., Haber, D.A., Maheswaran, S. (2020). Quantitative Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells Using RNA-Based Digital Scoring. In: Schaffner, F., Merlin, JL., von Bubnoff, N. (eds) Tumor Liquid Biopsies. Recent Results in Cancer Research, vol 215. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26439-0_4

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26439-0_4

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    • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

    • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-26438-3

    • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-26439-0

    • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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