Metabolic Classification of Circulating Tumor Cells as a Biomarker for Metastasis and Prognosis in Breast Cancer

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been demonstrated as a promising liquid biopsy marker for breast cancer (BC). However, the intra-patient heterogeneity of CTCs remains a challenge to clinical application. We aim at profiling aggressive CTCs subpopulation in BC utilizing the distinctive metabolic reprogramming which is a hallmark of metastatic tumor cells.