Recent insights into the development of nanotechnology to detect circulating tumor cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) produced from primary tumors act as seeds for metastasis, leading to the majority of cancer-related deaths. Currently, in cancer research, these cells have attracted much attention in studying the process of metastasis. Various studies in the past decade have enlightened the role of CTCs as potential biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. As a result, the analysis of CTCs could act as a substitute for characterizing the nature of primary tumors and provide unique insights into the metastatic process. The detection of CTCs in the blood samples of a cancer patient is technically challenging because of the extremely low abundance of CTCs among a large number of other blood cells. Therefore, novel methods for the detection of CTCs are highly recommended. In this feature article, we discuss the recent progress in nanotechnology for the detection of CTCs along with perspectives on future opportunities.