Open AccessNon‐invasive detection of genome‐wide somatic copy number alterations by liquid biopsies
Author(s) -
Heitzer Ellen,
Ulz Peter,
Geigl Jochen B.,
Speicher Michael R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
molecular oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.332
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1878-0261
pISSN - 1574-7891
DOI - 10.1016/j.molonc.2015.12.004
Subject(s) - liquid biopsy , somatic cell , circulating tumor cell , genome , biology , peripheral blood , copy number variation , computational biology , tumor cells , biopsy , copy number analysis , cancer research , cancer , pathology , gene , genetics , medicine , immunology , metastasis
Liquid biopsies, i.e. the analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), are evolving into promising clinical tools. Indeed, a plethora of liquid biopsy technologies to deduce non‐invasively characteristics of the tumor genome from the peripheral blood have been developed over the last few years. For example, liquid biopsies have been used to assess the tumor burden, to monitor the evolution of tumor genomes, to unravel mechanisms of resistance, to establish the tumor heterogeneity, and for the identification of prognostic and predictive markers. In this review we focus on methods to establish genome‐wide profiles of somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) from plasma DNA and show how they provide novel insights into the biology of cancer and their impact on the management of patients.