Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are associated with tumor burden and treatment response and, as hallmarks of the initiation of tumor dissemination, can predict the likelihood of metastatic progression before widespread tumors can be detected by standard anatomic imaging. However, early diagnosis of recurrence through the detection of CTCs is limited by their low prevalence in blood and the limited sensitivity of existing technologies. To address these challenges, we investigated the use of ultrasound and targeted microbubbles (MBs) for early CTC detection. While MBs have been used in cardiovascular/molecular tumor imaging, there is limited research on their acoustic properties when bound to CTCs. We developed a hydrophone system for detecting characteristic A-lines from CTCs encapsulating MBs. Our study is the first to identify distinctive characteristics in the acoustic frequency response of MBs bound to different cancer CTCs using in vitro suspensions and in vivo mice that will benefit metastatic cancer detection and management.

中文翻译：

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一种利用声学 A 线检测流血中循环肿瘤细胞的新方法


循环肿瘤细胞 （CTC） 与肿瘤负荷和治疗反应相关，作为肿瘤播散开始的标志，可以在标准解剖成像检测到广泛肿瘤之前预测转移进展的可能性。然而，由于 CTC 在血液中的患病率低且现有技术的敏感性有限，因此通过检测 CTC 对复发的早期诊断受到限制。为了应对这些挑战，我们研究了超声和靶向微泡 （MBs） 在早期 CTC 检测中的应用。虽然 MB 已用于心血管/分子肿瘤成像，但对其与 CTC 结合时的声学特性的研究有限。我们开发了一种水听器系统，用于检测封装 MB 的 CTC 的特征 A 线。我们的研究首次使用体外混悬液和体内小鼠确定了与不同癌症 CTC 结合的 MB 的声频响应的独特特征，这将有利于转移性癌症的检测和管理。