Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr 18;8(33):55632-55645.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17184. eCollection 2017 Aug 15.

Clinical and biological significance of circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosomes as biomarkers in colorectal cancer

Shiyu Jia  1   2   3 , Rui Zhang  2   3 , Ziyang Li  2   3   4 , Jinming Li  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Clinical and biological significance of circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosomes as biomarkers in colorectal cancer

Shiyu Jia et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has been the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Owing to clonal evolution and selection, CRC treatment needs multimodal therapeutic approaches and due monitoring of tumor progression and therapeutic efficacy. Liquid biopsy, involving the use of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and exosomes, may offer a promising noninvasive alternative for diagnosis and for real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and therapeutic response compared to traditional tissue biopsy. Monitoring of the disease processes can enable clinicians to readily adopt a strategy based on optimal therapeutic decision-making. This article provides an overview of the significant advances and the current clinical and biological significance of CTCs, ctDNA, and exosomes in CRC, as well as a comparison of the main merits and demerits of these three components. The hurdles that need to be resolved and potential directions to be followed with respect to liquid biopsies for detection and therapy of CRC are also discussed.

Keywords: circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA); circulating tumor cells (CTCs); colorectal cancer (CRC); exosomes; liquid biopsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Circulating biomarkers in CRC patient (A) and the clinical application of liquid biopsy (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Tumor stem cells fuse with monocytes to form highly invasive tumor-hybrid cells.
    Aguirre LA, Montalbán-Hernández K, Avendaño-Ortiz J, Marín E, Lozano R, Toledano V, Sánchez-Maroto L, Terrón V, Valentín J, Pulido E, Casalvilla JC, Rubio C, Diekhorst L, Laso-García F, Del Fresno C, Collazo-Lorduy A, Jiménez-Munarriz B, Gómez-Campelo P, Llanos-González E, Fernández-Velasco M, Rodríguez-Antolín C, Pérez de Diego R, Cantero-Cid R, Hernádez-Jimenez E, Álvarez E, Rosas R, Dies López-Ayllón B, de Castro J, Wculek SK, Cubillos-Zapata C, Ibáñez de Cáceres I, Díaz-Agero P, Gutiérrez Fernández M, Paz de Miguel M, Sancho D, Schulte L, Perona R, Belda-Iniesta C, Boscá L, López-Collazo E. Aguirre LA, et al. Oncoimmunology. 2020 Jun 16;9(1):1773204. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2020.1773204. Oncoimmunology. 2020. PMID: 32923132 Free PMC article.
  • The Role of Tumor-Derived Exosomes in the Abscopal Effect and Immunotherapy.
    Shan Z, Wang H, Zhang Y, Min W. Shan Z, et al. Life (Basel). 2021 Apr 23;11(5):381. doi: 10.3390/life11050381. Life (Basel). 2021. PMID: 33922480 Free PMC article. Review.
  • Isolated Metastases to Multiple Genital Organs: a Curious Case of Metachronous Spread of Carcinoma Colon.
    N S, Penumadu P, Sachdeva AK, Kohli PS. N S, et al. Indian J Surg Oncol. 2019 Jun;10(2):321-323. doi: 10.1007/s13193-018-0855-2. Epub 2019 Jan 4. Indian J Surg Oncol. 2019. PMID: 31168256 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
  • Nanotechnology in emerging liquid biopsy applications.
    Kalogianni DP. Kalogianni DP. Nano Converg. 2021 May 2;8(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s40580-021-00263-w. Nano Converg. 2021. PMID: 33934252 Free PMC article. Review.
  • Exosomes as smart drug delivery vehicles for cancer immunotherapy.
    Zhang H, Wang S, Sun M, Cui Y, Xing J, Teng L, Xi Z, Yang Z. Zhang H, et al. Front Immunol. 2023 Jan 17;13:1093607. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1093607. eCollection 2022. Front Immunol. 2023. PMID: 36733388 Free PMC article. Review.
See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin DM. Estimates of worldwide burden of cancer in 2008: GLOBOCAN 2008. Int J Cancer. 2010;127:2893–917. - PubMed
    1. Torre LA, Bray F, Siegel RL, Ferlay J, Lortet-Tieulent J, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics, 2012. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65:87–108. - PubMed
    1. Brenner H, Kloor M, Pox CP. Colorectal cancer. Lancet. 2014;383:1490–502. - PubMed
    1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2015. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65:5–29. - PubMed
    1. Holohan C, Van Schaeybroeck S, Longley DB, Johnston PG. Cancer drug resistance: an evolving paradigm. Nat Rev Cancer. 2013;13:714–26. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources