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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2016; 22(38): 8480-8488
Published online Oct 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i38.8480
Circulating tumor DNA as a liquid biopsy target for detection of pancreatic cancer
Erina Takai, Shinichi Yachida
Erina Takai, Shinichi Yachida, Division of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Author contributions: Takai E performed the majority of the writing and prepared the figure; Yachida S supervised the writing of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the authors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Erina Takai, PhD, Division of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Center Research Institute, 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan. ertakai@ncc.go.jp
Telephone: +81-3-35422511 Fax: +81-3-35453567
Received: April 25, 2016
Peer-review started: April 27, 2016
First decision: June 20, 2016
Revised: June 30, 2016
Accepted: August 5, 2016
Article in press: August 5, 2016
Published online: October 14, 2016
Processing time: 169 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract

Most pancreatic cancer patients present with advanced metastatic disease, resulting in extremely poor 5-year survival, mainly because of the lack of a reliable modality for early detection and limited therapeutic options for advanced disease. Therefore, there is a need for minimally-invasive diagnostic tools for detecting pancreatic cancer at an early stage, when curative surgery and also novel therapeutic approaches including precision medicine may be feasible. The “liquid biopsy” addresses these unmet clinical needs based on the concept that simple peripheral blood sampling and detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) could provide diagnostic information. In this review, we provide an overview of the current status of blood-based tests for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the potential utility of ctDNA for precision medicine. We also discuss challenges that remain to be addressed in developing practical ctDNA-based liquid biopsy approaches for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Circulating tumor DNA; Pancreatic cancer; Biomarker; Precision medicine; Liquid biopsy

Core tip: There is a need for minimally-invasive diagnostic tools for detecting pancreatic cancer at an early stage and also novel therapeutic approaches including precision medicine may be feasible. The “liquid biopsy” addresses these unmet clinical needs based on the concept that simple peripheral blood sampling and detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) could provide diagnostic information. In this topic, we provide an overview of the current status of blood-based tests for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the potential utility of ctDNA for precision medicine. We also discuss challenges that remain to be addressed in developing practical ctDNA-based liquid biopsy.