Exploring the mechanism of metastasis/development of new tests to enroll circulating tumor cells (ctcs) into clinical practice

CTC4CLINIC is an innovative project, aims to improve cancer diagnosis and monitoring by developing and validating innovative liquid biopsy assays based on circulating tumor cells (CTCs). These tumor cells, found in the blood of cancer patients, are important prognostic factors. They also hold significant information for tumor behavior, disease evolution, and treatment response. However, they are not yet widely used in clinical practice due to their rarity and the difficulties in their isolation and characterization.This project brings together experts from universities, hospitals, and private laboratories across Europe and the United States. It will combine different scientific approaches, including biochemistry, analytical chemistry, single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, live-cell imaging, and artificial intelligence, to better understand how tumors spread and evolve. A key innovation is the simultaneous analysis of CTCs in genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and functional levels from the same patient sample, improving the sensitivity and reliability of liquid biopsy tools.Therefore, the objectives of the current project are:1.Elucidate the mechanistic role of CTCs in metastatic dissemination.2.Develop standardized, highly sensitive, combined molecular and functional assays for CTC analysis.3.Build a harmonized pipeline for clinical translation through intersectoral secondments, ensuring reproducibility and protocol standardization across partner institutions.4.Provide advanced training for researchers, fostering transferable skills and accelerating the pathway from discovery to commercialization. This staff exchange project will support the development of standardized protocols and the clinical validation of new diagnostic tools for patients with breast, prostate, lung, and pancreatic cancers.