Monitoring Circulating Tumor Cells by In Vivo Flow Cytometry in Cancer Therapy

Pp: 109-123 (15)

* (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

The in vivo flow cytometry is an emerging tool to monitor circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in vivo. As a non-invasive method, the in vivo flow cytometry allows long-term monitoring of CTCs without changing their native biological environment. It has been applied for monitoring CTC dynamics in extensive biomedical researches on cancer therapy. In this chapter, the principles of fluorescence based and photoacoustic based in vivo flow cytometry are introduced. A number of studies concerning basic research in cancer therapy with in vivo flow cytometry are reviewed. Potential applications and disadvantages of in vivo flow cytometry in cancer therapy are also discussed.

Keywords: Cancer metastasis, Circulating tumor cells, Coherent Raman scattering, Fluorescence detection, in vivo flow cytometry, Liver cancer, Melanoma, Optical tweezers, Photoacoustic detection, Tumor resection, Tumor prognosis.