Circulating tumor cells in pancreatic cancer: a review

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest types of cancer with little or no recent evidence of significant improvement in survival. This is, in large part, due to the current unavailability of effective screening or even early detection methods. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), particularly with the rapidly improving methods for isolation, enrichment, and characterization methods, have emerged as the next best hope to overcome these challenges. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of CTC technologies with particular focus on the various isolation and enrichment methods based on liquid biopsy, the current limitations of these technologies and, consequently, the areas of further research and improvements in CTC methods that are needed to translate it to the clinical setting of routine diagnosis, treatment, and management of pancreatic cancer. Key words: Circulating tumor cells; Pancreatic cancer; Translational medicine