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EHA 2026 | Barriers to implementing CTCs in clinical practice
Bruno Paiva, PhD, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, discusses the practical considerations for implementing circulating tumour cell (CTC) testing in routine myeloma care. He explains why existing flow cytometry platforms and established MRD assays may simplify adoption, and outlines how standardized methodologies could help bring CTC assessment into everyday clinical practice. This interview took place at the 31st Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Transcript
Well, as always, it is never easy to implement a biomarker at a global scale, but definitely not impossible. And I would say that with CTCs, we have two key advantages. One is the fact that the clinically relevant cutoffs in stages such as smoldering, newly diagnosed, relapsed refractory, active myeloma are relatively high, 0.02%, meaning that either state-of-the-art or conventional flow cytometry methods are empowered to detect this level of CTCs...
Well, as always, it is never easy to implement a biomarker at a global scale, but definitely not impossible. And I would say that with CTCs, we have two key advantages. One is the fact that the clinically relevant cutoffs in stages such as smoldering, newly diagnosed, relapsed refractory, active myeloma are relatively high, 0.02%, meaning that either state-of-the-art or conventional flow cytometry methods are empowered to detect this level of CTCs. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the fact that some of the assays, such as next-generation flow cytometry, have been around quite some time for the assessment of MRD and have been implemented in many laboratories, the same assay can now be used for CTCs, meaning that the time needed for laboratory implementation will probably be much less when compared to other biomarkers.
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