Galarza Fortuna GM, Dvir K. Circulating tumor DNA: Where are we now? A mini review of the literature. World J Clin Oncol 2020; 11(9): 723-731 [PMID: 33033694 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v11.i9.723]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Gliceida Maria Galarza Fortuna, MD, Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States. gliceida.galarza@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Clin Oncol. Sep 24, 2020; 11(9): 723-731 Published online Sep 24, 2020. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v11.i9.723
Circulating tumor DNA: Where are we now? A mini review of the literature
Gliceida Maria Galarza Fortuna, Kathrin Dvir
Gliceida Maria Galarza Fortuna, Kathrin Dvir, Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States
Author contributions: Galarza Fortuna GM and Dvir K were in charge of conceptualization, data curation, methodology, project administration, and writing the original draft and the definite version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Galarza Fortuna GM and Dvir K have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Gliceida Maria Galarza Fortuna, MD, Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States. gliceida.galarza@gmail.com
Received: April 29, 2020 Peer-review started: April 29, 2020 First decision: July 25, 2020 Revised: July 31, 2020 Accepted: September 2, 2020 Article in press: September 2, 2020 Published online: September 24, 2020 Processing time: 142 Days and 12.1 Hours
Abstract
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.
Core Tip: This report provides an updated review of the clinical utilities of liquid biopsy for the screening, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancer.
