Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Mar 25;13(7):1241.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13071241.

Liquid Biopsy in the Management of Breast Cancer Patients: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going

Carlotta Mazzitelli  1 , Donatella Santini  2 , Angelo Gianluca Corradini  2 , Claudio Zamagni  3 , Davide Trerè  1   4 , Lorenzo Montanaro  1   4 , Mario Taffurelli  1   5
Affiliations
Review

Liquid Biopsy in the Management of Breast Cancer Patients: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going

Carlotta Mazzitelli et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Liquid biopsy (LB) is an emerging diagnostic tool that analyzes biomarkers in the blood (and possibly in other body fluids) to provide information about tumor genetics and response to therapy. This review article provides an overview of LB applications in human cancer with a focus on breast cancer patients. LB methods include circulating tumor cells and cell-free tumor products, such as circulating tumor DNA. LB has shown potential in detecting cancer at an early stage, monitoring tumor progression and recurrence, and predicting patient response to therapy. Several studies have demonstrated its clinical utility in breast cancer patients. However, there are limitations to LB, including the lack of standardized assays and the need for further validation. Future potential applications of LB include identifying the minimal residual disease, early detection of recurrence, and monitoring treatment response in various cancer types. LB represents a promising non-invasive diagnostic tool with potential applications in breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management. Further research is necessary to fully understand its clinical utility and overcome its current limitations.

Keywords: breast cancer; circulating tumor DNA; circulating tumor cells; clinical management; liquid biopsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pitfalls and solutions: The limitations of liquid biopsy in breast cancer detection and monitoring.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Silveira A.B., Bidard F.-C., Tanguy M.-L., Girard E., Trédan O., Dubot C., Jacot W., Goncalves A., Debled M., Levy C., et al. Multimodal liquid biopsy for early monitoring and outcome prediction of chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer. Npj Breast Cancer. 2021;7:115. doi: 10.1038/s41523-021-00319-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ramos-Medina R., López-Tarruella S., del Monte-Millán M., Massarrah T., Martín M. Technical Challenges for CTC Implementation in Breast Cancer. Cancers. 2021;13:4619. doi: 10.3390/cancers13184619. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Richard V., Davey M.G., Annuk H., Miller N., Kerin M.J. The double agents in liquid biopsy: Promoter and informant biomarkers of early metastases in breast cancer. Mol. Cancer. 2022;21:95. doi: 10.1186/s12943-022-01506-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heitzer E., Haque I.S., Roberts C.E.S., Speicher M.R. Current and future perspectives of liquid biopsies in genomics-driven oncology. Nat. Rev. Genet. 2019;20:71–88. doi: 10.1038/s41576-018-0071-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Keup C., Suryaprakash V., Storbeck M., Hoffmann O., Kimmig R., Kasimir-Bauer S. Longitudinal Multi-Parametric Liquid Biopsy Approach Identifies Unique Features of Circulating Tumor Cell, Extracellular Vesicle, and Cell-Free DNA Characterization for Disease Monitoring in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients. Cells. 2021;10:212. doi: 10.3390/cells10020212. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources