Origin, Metastasis, Harm, Recognition and Capture, and Elimination of Circulating Tumor Cells

Abstract Cancer is now a major threat to human health and life. Although a number of clinical approaches to cancer treatment have been developed in recent years, tumor recurrence and metastasis remain a challenge. As the “seed” for the formation of tumor metastasis, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) can not only grow and spread in the primary site, but also spread to other parts of the body through various ways. The close connection between CTCs and tumor progression makes them a focus of clinical and basic research attention, and it not only has an important guide for the clinical treatment of patients, but also a window into the occurrence and development of distant metastases. The identification and detection of CTCs have an important clinical significance in the assessment of the prognosis of cancer, efficacy prediction, efficacy evaluation, and the study of recurrent metastasis and drug resistance mechanisms of cancer patients. Therefore, this review not only introduces the source, attributes, transfer, and harm of CTCs, but also highlights the progress and latest technologies for the identification and capture and elimination strategies of CTCs and presents prospects for future research of CTCs.