Review

Nature Reviews Cancer 6, 835-845 (November 2006) | doi:10.1038/nrc1971



There is a Correspondence and an Author Reply associated with this Article.

The multifaceted circulating endothelial cell in cancer: towards marker and target identification

Francesco Bertolini1, Yuval Shaked2, Patrizia Mancuso1 & Robert S. Kerbel2  About the authors

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Increases in the number of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and progenitors (CEPs) have been reported in various pathological conditions including cancer. Preclinical studies have shown that CEC and CEP kinetics correlate well with several standard laboratory angiogenesis assays, which cannot be used in humans. At the clinical level, evidence is emerging that CEC kinetics and viability might correlate with clinical outcomes in cancer patients who undergo anti-angiogenic treatment. Therefore, CEC and CEP measurement has potential as a surrogate marker for monitoring anti-angiogenic treatment and drug activity, and could help to determine the optimal biological dose of anti-angiogenic drugs, which are being used with increasing frequency in medical oncology.

Author affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, 20141 Milan, Italy.
  2. The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Molecular and Cellular Biology Research, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.

Correspondence to: Francesco Bertolini1 Email: francesco.bertolini@ieo.it

Published online 5 October 2006

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