Abstract: The early stage of ovarian cancer lacks specific symptoms and reliable early detection methods. About 75% of ovarian cancer patients have advanced stage at the time of their initial diagnosis. There is no effective monitoring and treatment measures for advanced stage. As a result, ovarian cancer mortality remains high, about 70% of patients survived for less than 5 years. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of cancer patients have the same epigenetic and other bioinformatics characteristics as the original tumor cells. They are the core content of liquid biopsy technology and show important predictive and prognostic value in a variety of solid tumors. In the past, the main route of metastasis of ovarian cancer was considered to be intraperitoneal direct metastasis, whereas distant metastasis occurred in less than one third of the patients. It is presumed that only a very small number of patients dropped off after CTCs. Recently, studies have demonstrated the important role of hematogenous transmission in ovarian cancer. Therefore, detection of CTCs can monitor mutations in the process of tumorigenesis and development in a non-invasive, continuous and real-time manner. It is a potential important monitoring indicator for early diagnosis, individualized treatment evaluation and clinical follow-up of ovarian cancer. This article reviews the application value of CTCs in the prediction and prognosis of ovarian cancer, hoping to lay a foundation for future liquid biopsy of ovarian cancer.

Key words: Ovarian neoplasms, Liquid biopsy, Neoplasm circulating cells, Prognosis