Circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA in breast cancer diagnosis and monitoring
Effat Alemzadeh, Leila Allahqoli, Hamideh Dehghan, Afrooz Mazidimoradi, Alireza Ghasempour, Hamid Salehiniya
Abstract
Liquid biopsy, including both circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA, is becoming more popular as a diagnostic tool in the clinical management of breast cancer. Elevated concentrations of these biomarkers during cancer treatment may be used as markers for cancer progression as well as to understand the mechanisms underlying metastasis and treatment resistance. Thus, these circulating markers serve as tools for cancer assessing and monitoring through a simple, non-invasive blood draw. However, despite several study results currently noting a potential clinical impact of ctDNA mutation tracking, the method is not used clinically in cancer diagnosis among patients and more studies are required to confirm it. This review focuses on understanding circulating tumor biomarkers, especially in breast cancer.