Beck TN, et al. - Given that malignancies may be evaluated via capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and plasma cell-free RNA (cfRNA), without invasive procedures, researchers compared two methods for CTC capture and identification: the standard epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCam) CellSearch kit (unicapture) and EpCAM plus human epidermal growth factor 2, epidermal growth factor receptor and mucin 1 specific combined ferrofluid capture (quadcapture), and investigated potential tumor-related biomarkers by profiling mRNA from CTCs and plasma cfRNA. Participants were ten patients with small cell lung cancer, ten patients with non-small cell lung cancer and four healthy volunteers. No significant enhancement in CTC capture efficacy was brought about by Quadcapture ferrofluid reagent. In patients with metastatic lung cancer, an intriguing PF-4-centric network was highlighted in NanoString analysis based on CTC and plasma cfRNA data.