The main characteristics of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and features of its analysis are described in the review. ctDNA constitutes a small part of the cell-free DNA in cancer patients. ctDNA is currently considered as a promising marker for assessing the effectiveness of treatment, prognosis and monitoring of oncological diseases, including breast cancer (BC). A plenty of patients with BC today receive neoadjuvant therapy, the effectiveness of which determines the necessity and volume of further drug treatment. The most sensitive method for assessing the effect of neoadjuvant drug therapy may be the determination of ctDNA. ctDNA analysis provides regular dynamic monitoring of molecular changes during treatment, predicts response to neoadjuvant drug therapy and the risk of disease relapse. This method can become an additional tool for personalized therapy of BC.
Zavarykina et al. (Wed,) studied this question.