The potential for liquid biopsies in the precision medical treatment of breast cancer

Victoria A Forte; Dany K Barrak; Mostafa Elhodaky; Lily Tung; Anson Snow; Julie E Lang

doi:10.28092/j.issn.2095-3941.2016.0007

The potential for liquid biopsies in the precision medical treatment of breast cancer

Cancer Biol Med. 2016 Mar;13(1):19-40. doi: 10.28092/j.issn.2095-3941.2016.0007.

Authors

Victoria A Forte¹, Dany K Barrak², Mostafa Elhodaky³, Lily Tung², Anson Snow¹, Julie E Lang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA; USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
² USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA; Department of Surgery, Division of Breast, Endocrine and Soft Tissue Surgery, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
³ USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA; Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.

PMID: 27144060
PMCID: PMC4850125
DOI: 10.28092/j.issn.2095-3941.2016.0007

Abstract

Currently the clinical management of breast cancer relies on relatively few prognostic/predictive clinical markers (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2), based on primary tumor biology. Circulating biomarkers, such as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) or circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may enhance our treatment options by focusing on the very cells that are the direct precursors of distant metastatic disease, and probably inherently different than the primary tumor's biology. To shift the current clinical paradigm, assessing tumor biology in real time by molecularly profiling CTCs or ctDNA may serve to discover therapeutic targets, detect minimal residual disease and predict response to treatment. This review serves to elucidate the detection, characterization, and clinical application of CTCs and ctDNA with the goal of precision treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs); biomarker; cancer; cell free DNA (cfDNA); circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).