Wikner J, Gröbe A, Pantel K, Riethdorf S. Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and circulating tumour cells. World J Clin Oncol 2014; 5(2): 114-124 [PMID: 24829858 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i2.114]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sabine Riethdorf, PhD, Department of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. s.riethdorf@uke.de
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. May 10, 2014; 5(2): 114-124 Published online May 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i2.114
Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and circulating tumour cells
Johannes Wikner, Alexander Gröbe, Klaus Pantel, Sabine Riethdorf
Johannes Wikner, Alexander Gröbe, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Klaus Pantel, Sabine Riethdorf, Department of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Author contributions: All of the authors substantially contributed to the conception and design of this paper, drafting the article and revising it critically for important intellectual content and the approval of the final version; Wikner J performed the initial literature search, which was updated by the other authors.
Supported by Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung der Krebsbekämpfung; No. 188 to Gröbe A and Riethdorf S; ERC Advanced Investigator Grant “DISSECT” (Pantel K), No. 269081
Correspondence to: Sabine Riethdorf, PhD, Department of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. s.riethdorf@uke.de
Telephone: +49-40-74151891 Fax: +49-40-741056546
Received: December 17, 2013 Revised: February 25, 2014 Accepted: March 13, 2014 Published online: May 10, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), among head and neck cancer, is related to poor survival rates despite considerable advances in diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, detecting tumour cell dissemination early and understanding the underlying mechanisms are crucial for predicting prognosis, relapse and survival. According to previous findings, circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) might serve as prognostic markers to supplement routine staging and support determining individual therapeutic interventions. This review focuses on summarising the current knowledge about the detection of CTCs/DTCs with special emphasis on patients suffering from OSCC. The translational relevance of CTCs/DTCs and challenges for clinical application are highlighted.
