肿瘤细胞通过血流的循环是肿瘤转移的重要步骤。为了更好地了解转移过程，必须探索循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）在循环中的存活情况。尽管近几十年来人们已经对免疫与 CTC 的相互作用进行了研究，但研究尚未充分解释 CTC 在血流中的一些行为。最近进行了与血液中 CTC 机械反应相关的研究，以进一步研究 CTC 可能死亡的条件。虽然实验方法可以评估 CTC 的机械特性和死亡，但正在建立越来越复杂的计算模型来模拟血流中流体剪切应力 (FSS) 下的血流和 CTC 机械变形。有几个因素导致 CTC 的机械变形和死亡。 CTC 流通情况。虽然 FSS 会损害 CTC 结构，但 CTC 和血液成分之间的多种相互作用可能会促进或阻碍下一步转移——远程部位外渗。全面了解这些因素如何影响 CTC 的变形和死亡可以作为未来实验和模拟的基础，使研究人员能够更准确地预测 CTC 死亡。最终，这些努力可以在未来改善转移特异性治疗和诊断。© 2024。作者获得 Springer Science Business Media, LLC（Springer Nature 旗下公司）的独家许可。

The circulation of tumor cells through the bloodstream is a significant step in tumor metastasis. To better understand the metastatic process, circulating tumor cell (CTC) survival in the circulation must be explored. While immune interactions with CTCs in recent decades have been examined, research has yet to sufficiently explain some CTC behaviors in blood flow. Studies related to CTC mechanical responses in the bloodstream have recently been conducted to further study conditions under which CTCs might die. While experimental methods can assess the mechanical properties and death of CTCs, increasingly sophisticated computational models are being built to simulate the blood flow and CTC mechanical deformation under fluid shear stresses (FSS) in the bloodstream.Several factors contribute to the mechanical deformation and death of CTCs as they circulate. While FSS can damage CTC structure, diverse interactions between CTCs and blood components may either promote or hinder the next metastatic step-extravasation at a remote site. Overall understanding of how these factors influence the deformation and death of CTCs could serve as a basis for future experiments and simulations, enabling researchers to predict CTC death more accurately. Ultimately, these efforts can lead to improved metastasis-specific therapeutics and diagnostics specific in the future.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.