In vitro cross-talk between metastasis-competent circulating tumor cells and platelets in colon cancer: a malicious association during a harsh journey in the blood.

Platelets are active players in hemostasis, coagulation, and tumorigenesis. The cross-talk between platelets and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been suggested to have a myriad of pro-cancerous effects including promoting tumor growth, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) induction, aiding metastatic cells for survival, adhesion, arrest, setting up the pre-metastatic niche and metastasis. These interactions might cause alterations on the transcriptome of the platelets. However, as CTCs are rare events, the cross-talk between CTCs and platelets is poorly understood. Taking advantage of established colon CTC lines, we aim to explore the reciprocal interaction of colon CTCs and platelets in vitro. Overall design: Platelets total RNA profiling by high throughput sequencing