N-Acetyl-L-cysteine Promotes Ex Vivo Growth and Expansion of Single Circulating Tumor Cells by Mitigating Cellular Stress Responses.

ABSTRACT: Circulating tumor cells (CTC) can be isolated via a minimally invasive blood draw and are considered a "liquid biopsy" of their originating solid tumors. CTCs contain a small subset of metastatic precursors that can form metastases in secondary organs and provide a resource to identify mechanisms underlying metastasis-initiating properties. Despite technological advancements that allow for highly sensitive approaches of detection and isolation, CTCs are very rare and often present as single cells, posing an extreme challenge for ex vivo expansion after isolation. Here, using previously established patient-derived CTC lines, we performed a small-molecule drug screen to identify compounds that can improve ex vivo culture efficiency for single CTCs. We found that N-acetyl-L-cyst

SUBMITTER: Teng T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7925378 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature