Clinical relevance of blood-based ctDNA analysis: mutation detection and beyond

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 124; no. 2; pp. 345 - 358
• Main Authors: Keller, Laura, Belloum, Yassine, Wikman, Harriet, Pantel, Klaus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 19.01.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Cancer Research UK
• Subjects: 692/308/53; 692/4017; 692/4028; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biopsy; Cancer; Cancer Research; Circulating Tumor DNA - blood; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA methylation; DNA Mutational Analysis; Drug Resistance; Epidemiology; Humans; Life Sciences; Liquid Biopsy; Molecular Medicine; Mutation; Neoplasms - blood; Neoplasms - genetics; Oncology; Review; Review Article; Tumors
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/s41416-020-01047-5

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) derived from tumours is present in the plasma of cancer patients. The majority of currently available studies on the use of this circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) deal with the detection of mutations. The analysis of cfDNA is often discussed in the context of the noninvasive detection of mutations that lead to resistance mechanisms and therapeutic and disease monitoring in cancer patients. Indeed, substantial advances have been made in this area, with the development of methods that reach high sensitivity and can interrogate a large number of genes. Interestingly, however, cfDNA can also be used to analyse different features of DNA, such as methylation status, size fragment patterns, transcriptomics and viral load, which open new avenues for the analysis of liquid biopsy samples from cancer patients. This review will focus on the new perspectives and challenges of cfDNA analysis from mutation detection in patients with solid malignancies.