Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring in Breast Cancer: How Liquid Biopsy Can Support Patient Management

Abstract

Imaging and tissue biopsies represent the current gold standard for breast cancer diagnosis and patient management. However, these practices are time-consuming, expensive and require invasive procedures. Moreover, tissue biopsies do not capture spatial and temporal tumor heterogeneity. Conversely, liquid biopsy, which includes circulating tumor cells, circulating free nucleic acids and extracellular vesicles, is minimally invasive, easy to perform and can be repeated during a patient’s follow-up. Increasing evidence also suggests that liquid biopsy can be used to efficiently screen and diagnose tumors at an early stage, and to monitor changes in the tumor molecular profile. In the present review, clinical applications and prospects are discussed.

Keywords: :

• biomarkers
• breast cancer
• circulating tumor cells
• circulating tumor DNA
• diagnosis
• exosomes
• liquid biopsy
• prediction
• prognosis
• treatment monitoring

Author contributions

Conceptualization: M Del Re; investigation and formal analysis: all authors; data curation: all authors; writing—original draft preparation: F Cucchiara and R Scarpitta; writing—review and editing: C Scatena, S Crucitta and M Del Re; visualization: AG Naccarato and R Danesi; supervision: R Danesi. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.