Open AccessCirculating tumor DNA: Where are we now? A mini review of the literature
Author(s) -
Gliceida Galarza Fortuna,
Kathrin Dvir
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
world journal of clinical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2218-4333
DOI - 10.5306/wjco.v11.i9.723
Subject(s) - liquid biopsy , medicine , circulating tumor dna , snapshot (computer storage) , biopsy , circulating tumor cell , primary tumor , tumor cells , dna , dna sequencing , computational biology , cancer , oncology , pathology , cancer research , biology , computer science , genetics , metastasis , operating system
For many years tissue biopsy has been the primary procedure to establish cancer diagnosis and determine further treatment and prognosis. However, this method has multiple drawbacks, including, to mention some, being an invasive procedure carrying significant risk for fragile patients and allowing only for a "snapshot" of the tumor biology in time. The process of liquid biopsy allows for a minimally invasive procedure that provides molecular information about underlying cancer by analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) via next-generation sequencing technology and circulating tumor cells. This paper focuses on describing the basis of ctDNA and its current utilities.