Capturing circulating tumor cells of hepatocellular carcinoma

► Comparison of available methods in capturing CTCs from patients with HCC. ► CTCs as an indicator of recurrence, efficacy assessment and prognosis prediction. ► Self-seeding after tumor resection and reseeding after orthotopic liver transplantation. ► CTCs as a tool for in-depth study of molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis, tumor self-seeding or reseeding. ► Cancer stem cells (CSCs) may be a subset or derivation of CTCs.