Circulating Tumor Cell‐Derived Organoids: Current Progress, Applications, and Future

ABSTRACT Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are malignant cells that detach from primary or metastatic tumors and enter the bloodstream. Organoids, as three‐dimensional in vitro models, can mimic the tumor microenvironment and histopathological characteristics, thereby serving as valuable tools in tumor research. CTC‐derived organoids retain tumor heterogeneity and metastatic potential, which provides a unique model for the study of metastatic cascade mechanisms, individualized drug screening, and precision therapy. However, the current research on CTC‐derived organoids faces challenges, such as the scarcity of CTCs and the high technical difficulty in their isolation and enrichment, which leads to a low success rate in constructing organoid models. Moreover, most existing studies focus on a single cancer type and lack systematic integration of full‐process standardization as well as cross‐cancer applicability. In this paper, we review the isolation and enrichment strategies of CTC‐derived organoids along with the techniques for optimizing in vitro culture systems, and discusses their potential applications. This review summarizes the existing results, analyzes the technical bottlenecks, and provides a theoretical basis for the standardized construction and application of CTC‐derived organoids, while promoting their application in tumor precision medicine.