Overview the progress of liquid biopsy using circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating cell-free tumor DNA (cfDNA) to detect and monitor breast cancer. Based on numerous research efforts, the potential value of CTCs and cfDNA in the clinical aspects of cancer has become clear. With the development of next-generation sequencing analysis and newly developed technologies, many technical issues have been resolved, making liquid biopsy widely used in clinical practice. They can be powerful tools for dynamic monitoring of tumor progression and therapeutic efficacy. In the field of breast cancer, liquid biopsy is a research hot spot in recent years, playing a key role in monitoring breast cancer metastasis, predicting disease recurrence and assessing clinical drug resistance. Liquid biopsy has the advantages of noninvasive, high sensitivity, high specificity and real-time dynamic monitoring. Still application is far from reality, but the research and application prospects of CTCs and cfDNA in breast cancer are still worth exploring and discovering. This article reviews the main techniques and applications of CTCs and cfDNA in breast cancer.
Keywords: Breast cancer; Circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA); Circulating tumor cells (CTCs); Liquid biopsy.