Table 1.

Clinical applications of CTCs

Cancer type	Patient number	Detection methods	Marker	Significance	Clinical trial no.	Reference
Breast cancer	549	CellSearch	EpCAM, CK	In breast cancer patients with first-line chemotherapy, CTC counts were associated with mortality.	NCT00382018	Paoletti et al. [119]
Prostate cancer	147 mCRPC	VERSA	EpCAM	A transcriptional profile detectable in CTCs can serve as an independent prognostic marker in mCRPC.	NCT01942837, NCT01942837	Sperger et al. [120]
Pancreatic cancer	209 patients	CellSearch	EpCAM	CTC-positive preoperatively (≥1 CTC/7.5 mL) showed a detrimental outcome despite successful tumor resections.	NCT01919151	Hugenschmidt et al. [121]
Colorectal cancer	153	CellSearch	EpCAM, CK	Baseline CTCs ≥ 3 were detected in 19% of the patients. CTC ≥ 3 at baseline and 4 weeks after therapy showed shorter overall survival.	NCT01442935	Bidard et al. [122]