大部分与癌症相关的死亡是由于普遍性转移性疾病的存在。理解转移过程是降低癌症死亡率的关键。特别是，需要了解驱动癌症转移的分子机制，以便确定治疗转移性癌症的恢复措施。液体活检已出现作为一种非侵入性方法来获取有关转移性生物学的见解。循环肿瘤细胞（CTCs），从原发肿瘤或转移病变中脱落到循环中，是液体活检的关键组成部分。作为转移前体，CTCs具有揭示参与转移形成的机制以及治疗转移性疾病的新策略的潜力。然而，CTC的复杂生物学以及在循环中的低频是妨碍对转移过程进行深入机制研究的因素。为了克服这些问题，CTC衍生的模型，包括CTC衍生的异种移植（CDX）和CTC衍生的离体培养，在与更传统的体内转移模型相结合的情况下，已成为研究CTC促进癌症转移的生物学特征和发现新的治疗机会的强大工具。在本章中，我们提供了对不同癌症中使用的多种模型以研究CTC的生物学、CTC培养和扩展的方法以及体内和离体方法的最新观点。我们还报告了这些模型面临的主要挑战和限制。版权所有 © 2023. 由Elsevier Inc.出版。

The vast majority of cancer-related deaths are due to the presence of disseminated disease. Understanding the metastatic process is key to achieving a reduction in cancer mortality. Particularly, there is a need to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer metastasis, which will allow the identification of curative treatments for metastatic cancers. Liquid biopsies have arisen as a minimally invasive approach to gain insights into the biology of metastasis. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs), shed to the circulation from the primary tumour or metastatic lesions, are a key component of liquid biopsy. As metastatic precursors, CTCs hold the potential to unravel the mechanisms involved in metastasis formation as well as new therapeutic strategies for treating metastatic disease. However, the complex biology of CTCs together with their low frequency in circulation are factors hampering an in-depth mechanistic investigation of the metastatic process. To overcome these problems, CTC-derived models, including CTC-derived xenograft (CDX) and CTC-derived ex vivo cultures, in combination with more traditional in vivo models of metastasis, have emerged as powerful tools to investigate the biological features of CTCs facilitating cancer metastasis and uncover new therapeutic opportunities. In this chapter, we provide an up to date view of the diverse models used in different cancers to study the biology of CTCs, and of the methods developed for CTC culture and expansion, in vivo and ex vivo. We also report some of the main challenges and limitations that these models are facing.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.