Circulating tumor DNA: from discovery to clinical application in breast cancer

Jiachi Xu; Hongyu Gao; Xinyu Guan; Jiahao Meng; Shirong Ding; Qian Long; Wenjun Yi

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1355887

Circulating tumor DNA: from discovery to clinical application in breast cancer

Front Immunol. 2024 Apr 30:15:1355887. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1355887. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jiachi Xu^{1

2}, Hongyu Gao^{1

2}, Xinyu Guan^{1

2}, Jiahao Meng^{1

2}, Shirong Ding³, Qian Long^{1

2}, Wenjun Yi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² Clinical Research Center For Breast Disease In Hunan Province, Changsha, China.
³ Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) stands out as the cancer with the highest incidence of morbidity and mortality among women worldwide, and its incidence rate is currently trending upwards. Improving the efficiency of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is crucial, as it can effectively reduce the disease burden. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) originates from the release of tumor cells and plays a pivotal role in the occurrence, development, and metastasis of breast cancer. In recent years, the widespread application of high-throughput analytical technology has made ctDNA a promising biomarker for early cancer detection, monitoring minimal residual disease, early recurrence monitoring, and predicting treatment outcomes. ctDNA-based approaches can effectively compensate for the shortcomings of traditional screening and monitoring methods, which fail to provide real-time information and prospective guidance for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review summarizes the applications of ctDNA in various aspects of breast cancer, including screening, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and follow-up. It highlights the current research status in this field and emphasizes the potential for future large-scale clinical applications of ctDNA-based approaches.

Keywords: breast cancer; circulating tumor DNA; diagnosis; prognosis; screening; treatment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biomarkers, Tumor* / blood
Breast Neoplasms* / blood
Breast Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Breast Neoplasms* / genetics
Circulating Tumor DNA* / blood
Circulating Tumor DNA* / genetics
Early Detection of Cancer / methods
Female
Humans
Prognosis

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of the Hunan Province of China (Grant No. 2023JJ40842, 2020JJ4828); Health and Family Planning Commission of Hunan Province (Grant No. 20221J70143); the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021SK2026); The Natural Science Foundation of Changsha City (Grant No. kq2208309); The China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M733955).