Molecules promoting circulating clusters of cancer cells suggest novel therapeutic targets for treatment of metastatic cancers.

ABSTRACT: Treatment of metastatic disease remains among the most challenging tasks in oncology. One of the early events that predicts a poor prognosis and precedes the development of metastasis is the occurrence of clusters of cancer cells in the blood flow. Moreover, the presence of heterogeneous clusters of cancerous and noncancerous cells in the circulation is even more dangerous. Review of pathological mechanisms and biological molecules directly involved in the formation and pathogenesis of the heterotypic circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters revealed their common properties, which include increased adhesiveness, combined epithelial-mesenchymal phenotype, CTC-white blood cell interaction, and polyploidy. Several molecules involved in the heterotypic CTC interactions and their metastatic proper

SUBMITTER: Rozenberg JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10050392 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature