The object of the present invention is to provide an evaluation method capable of accurately determining a metastasis of cancer, the stage of cancer progression, or the malignancy of cancer.
The object can be solved by a method for detecting the degree of malignancy of each of the circulating tumor cells, characterized by the following steps: (a) bringing an epithelial cell-binding component, which specifically binds to a marker molecule expressed on epithelial cells and is fluorescently-labeled or luminescent enzyme-labeled, and a mesenchymal cell-binding component, which specifically binds to a marker molecule expressed on mesenchymal cells and is fluorescently-labeled or luminescent enzyme-labeled, into contact with a sample that possibly contains circulating tumor cells, (b) detecting a fluorescence signal or a luminescence signal of the epithelial cell-binding component and a fluorescence signal or a luminescence signal of the mesenchymal cell-binding component of each of the cells, and (c) determining the degree of epithelial-mesenchymal transition of circulating tumor cells based on the signal amount of the epithelial cell-binding component (E) and the signal amount of the mesenchymal cell-binding component (M).