The development and prospect of the detection technology of circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are cancer cells that detach from their primary site to circularity system or other body fluids, which hold the promise of monitoring of tumor evolution and therapeutic efficacy and improving prognosis for patients. With the rapid development of detection technologies of CTCs and ctDNA, the sensitivity and specificity of current assays had significant improved. CTCs can be detected by use of cytometry, immunofluorescence analysis and genedetection and the detection methods of ctDNA mainly based on PCR and the next generation sequencing. As the developing of various methods and platforms were developed for detecting the circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA, it is necessary to use the detection technology flexibly according to the research purpose and provide more assistance for the diagnosis and treatment of tumor.