[Identification and single-cell sequencing analysis of rare tumor cells in malignant pleural effusion of lung cancer patients].

Tumor heterogeneity refers to distinct genomic or phenotypic characteristics of tumor cells. Under the environmental or drug stress, tumor cells exhibit different responses, corresponding to different properties of cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis and drug resistance. In particular, a small fraction of tumor cells are capable of detaching from primary tumor sites and initiating distant metastases.

Fast isolation and ex vivo culture of circulating tumor cells from the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are free tumor cells shed from tumor site and enter into blood circulation. CTCs represent a reliable source of tumor cells for the molecular characteristics of the original tumor. However, the extraordinary rarity of CTCs makes the subsequent molecular and functional analysis technically challenging.