Circulating Tumor DNA: Clinical Monitoring and Early Detection

Abstract

Roughly 70 years after the presence of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in circulating blood was discovered, cfDNA has emerged as a transformative technology in clinical oncology. The ability to assess the presence, level, and composition of tumor DNA from a routine, noninvasive blood draw has opened the door to a broad array of high-impact clinical applications. While cfDNA is rapidly gaining clinical favor as a means of tumor mutational profiling without the need for an invasive biopsy, emerging applications in the areas of clinical monitoring and early cancer detection hold tremendous promise. These developing applications of cfDNA are reviewed herein.