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Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity in Circulating Tumor Cells, the Precursors of Metastasis

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Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Metastatic Disease

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1220))

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells offer an unprecedented window into the metastatic cascade, and to some extent can be considered as intermediates in the process of metastasis. They exhibit dynamic oscillations in epithelial to mesenchymal plasticity and provide important opportunities for prognosis, therapy response monitoring, and targeting of metastatic disease. In this manuscript, we review the involvement of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in the early steps of metastasis and what we have learned about its contribution to genomic instability and genetic diversity, tumor progression and therapeutic responses using cell culture, mouse models and circulating tumor cells enriched from patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA

    Risa Burr & Shyamala Maheswaran

  2. Laboratory of Tumor and Development Biology, GIGA-Cancer, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Christine Gilles

  3. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Erik W. Thompson

  4. Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia

    Erik W. Thompson

  5. Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Shyamala Maheswaran

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  1. Risa Burr
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  2. Christine Gilles
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  4. Shyamala Maheswaran
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Correspondence to Shyamala Maheswaran .

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  1. Roche-Chus Joint Unit, Translational Medical Oncology Group (Oncomet) Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Roberto Piñeiro

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Burr, R., Gilles, C., Thompson, E.W., Maheswaran, S. (2020). Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity in Circulating Tumor Cells, the Precursors of Metastasis. In: Piñeiro, R. (eds) Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Metastatic Disease. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1220. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35805-1_2

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