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Review
. 2022 Jan 21:8:772166.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.772166. eCollection 2021.

Clonal Hematopoiesis and Liquid Biopsy in Gastrointestinal Cancers

Vlad M Croitoru  1   2 , Irina M Cazacu  1   2 , Ionut Popescu  1 , Doru Paul  3 , Simona Olimpia Dima  1   4 , Adina Emilia Croitoru  1   2 , Alina Daniela Tanase  1   5
Affiliations
Review

Clonal Hematopoiesis and Liquid Biopsy in Gastrointestinal Cancers

Vlad M Croitoru et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

The use of blood liquid biopsy is increasingly being incorporated into the clinical setting of gastrointestinal cancers care. Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) occurs naturally as a result of the accumulation of somatic mutations and the clonal proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells with normal aging. The identification of CH-mutations has been described as a source of biological noise in blood liquid biopsy. Incorrect interpretation of CH events as cancer related can have a direct impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review summarizes the current understanding of CH as a form of biological noise in blood liquid biopsy and the reported clinical significance of CH in patients with GI cancers.

Keywords: cancer; cfDNA; clonal hematopoiesis; gastrointestinal tumor; liquid biopsy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the genes with CH and tumor-related mutations found in the studies included in the review. (A) Leal et al. (28); (B) Chan et al. (32); (C) Huang et al. (33); (D) Ococks et al. (35).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Targeted sequencing of paired cfDNA and white blood cells to correctly asses the origin of the mutations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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