More than 90% of deaths due to cancer are due to metastasis, the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body. One major unmet need of cancer specialists is to know if a cancer patient already has circulating cancer cells in the blood.
“Circulating tumor cells” or CTCs are cells that detach from a primary tumor and circulate in the blood stream. They potentially seed single or multiple body sites with cancer cells that develop metastatic tumors. Counting CTCs can help doctors see the progress of a patient’s cancer condition especially during treatment.
The CellSearch™ System is the only standardized and validated test approved the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). It is a blood test that captures and assesses CTCs to determine prognosis of individuals having breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. The developer of this system, Veridex, LLC, claims it is an adjunct to current standard testing methods providing a more complete picture of patient of prognosis.
Its limitation: it can only count CTCs. It cannot determine the number of different cell population and the gene expression of cells.
The Cleveland Clinic voted the CellSearch System as the top innovative medical product for 2009.
Based from the article “Revisiting the Need to Detect Circulating Tumor Cells” by ScienceDaily.
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