Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: clinical validity and utility

Thibault Thomas-Bonafos; Jean Yves Pierga; François-Clément Bidard; Luc Cabel; Nicolas Kiavue

doi:10.1038/s41523-024-00706-7

Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: clinical validity and utility

NPJ Breast Cancer. 2024 Nov 29;10(1):103. doi: 10.1038/s41523-024-00706-7.

Authors

Thibault Thomas-Bonafos^{1

2}, Jean Yves Pierga^{1

2

3}, François-Clément Bidard^{1

2

4}, Luc Cabel^#^{1

2}, Nicolas Kiavue^#^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Institut Curie, Department of Medical Oncology, Paris, France.
² Circulating Tumor Biomarkers laboratory, Inserm CIC 1428, Department of Translational Research, Institut Curie, Paris, France.
³ Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
⁴ Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Université Paris-Saclay, Saint-Cloud, France.
⁵ Institut Curie, Department of Medical Oncology, Paris, France. nicolas.kiavue@curie.fr.
⁶ Circulating Tumor Biomarkers laboratory, Inserm CIC 1428, Department of Translational Research, Institut Curie, Paris, France. nicolas.kiavue@curie.fr.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been extensively studied in breast cancer (BC), with large studies establishing CTCs as a robust prognostic biomarker in early and metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Several phase II and phase III trials have investigated the clinical utility of CTCs in BC. Here, we outline the current landscape for the use of CTCs in the clinic at different stages of BC, focusing first on early BC, then on MBC, with a particular focus on interventional clinical trials based on CTCs.

Publication types

Review