Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) (2nd Edition)
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 66
Special Issue Editor
2. Department of Pathology, The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87120, USA
3. UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: the biology and therapeutic utility of circulating tumor cells (CTCs); liquid biopsies; mechanisms of brain metastasis and dormancy in breast and melanoma cancers; molecular crosstalks between dormant bone-marrow (BM) cells and CTCs; roles of BM and BM cellular heterogeneity interplaying with metastasis and dormancy
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue, “Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs)” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/cancers_CTCs).
The major cause of patient mortality in cancer is metastasis; however, our understanding of the metastatic cascade and mechanisms underlying this complex set of events remains limited. Cancer cells invade the surrounding tissue of primary or metastatic tumors, intravasate into lymphatic and blood vessels, disseminate to distant tissues, extravasate by adapting to the new microenvironment, and colonize these tissues. Because dissemination mostly occurs through the blood, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are of paramount importance and one of the most promising areas of oncology research. CTCs might serve as a “liquid biopsy” as a better way to diagnose cancer patients compared to painful biopsies of the primary tumor and can represent a clinically useful tool to better reflect cancer progression and monitoring in the patient. The isolation, characterization, and interrogation of CTCs are hampered by their rarity and heterogeneity, either inherited from respective primary or metastatic tumors or as a result of CTC evolution in blood by genetic/epigenetic progression that may or may not lead to a fully metastatic-competent CTC. Significant technical challenges in the field also persist in regard to identifying and interrogating CTC heterogeneity, assessing CTC biomarkers of clinical utility, and comprehensively capturing these cells (usually, a ratio of one CTC per 106 leukocytes and 109 erythrocytes in one milliliter of blood). Finally, many studies have reported the clinical impact of enumerating CTCs, considering that CTC testing is being employed in over 300 clinical trials worldwide. However, much of the CTC biology needs to be discovered, and many scientific/technical challenges must be overcome before their clinical promise as biomarkers and targets for improved therapies can be fulfilled. The objective of this Special Issue is to publish the latest findings in CTC research and clinical implementation. Contributions outlining CTC discoveries in biological and clinical settings, CTC theoretical and preclinical models, CTC technologies and methods for their detection, and clinical findings applying CTC concepts are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Dario Marchetti
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- liquid biopsy
- metastatic biomarkers
- CTCs isolation technologies
- tumor heterogeneity
- clinical CTC applications
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