Circulating Tumor Cells to get Identified before the Progression of Breast Cancer in the Patients

Release Date: 16-Nov-2020

Among all the cancer types, breast cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancer types at global level. It is leading to maximum deaths due to cancer. As the breast cancer death rate at global level is increasing at a very fast rate, therefore, researchers across the globe have been focused towards identifying a novel and potent therapy for the treatment of breast cancer patients. Researchers have found that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream could be useful in diagnosing the disease at an early stage, thus leading to the increased chances of overall survival of the cancer patients.

Therefore, researchers are now oriented towards developing a novel method that could aid in detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream. It is witnessed that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the cells that have been shed from the site of the tumor and travelling of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) leads to the progression and development of the cancer at novel sites. So, researchers are inclined towards finding a sensitive as well as efficient method of identifying circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream.

The researchers working on the respective clinical research study were oriented towards adding a fluorescent signal for CTCs so that they could be more easily identified. The breast cancer cell line expressing two major proteins called as ErbB-2 and EpCAM were selected. They also developed antibodies and attached them against the isolated protein ErbB-2. Fluorescent probes were also bound to the antibodies. They observed nine breast cancer cells and concluded that similar fluorescent signal in the buffer could be a powerful tool for screening rare CTCs in the patients.