Potential clinical utility of ultrasensitive circulating tumor DNA detection with CAPP-Seq

Tumors continually shed DNA into the circulation, where it can be noninvasively accessed. The ability to accurately detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) could significantly impact the management of patients with nearly every cancer type. Quantitation of ctDNA could allow objective response assessment, detection of minimal residual disease and noninvasive tumor genotyping. The latter application overcomes the barriers currently limiting repeated tumor tissue sampling during therapy. Recent technical advancements have improved upon the sensitivity, specificity and feasibility of ctDNA detection and promise to enable innovative clinical applications. Here, we focus on the potential clinical utility of ctDNA analysis using CAncer Personalized Profiling by deep Sequencing (CAPP-Seq), a novel next-generation sequencing-based approach for ultrasensitive ctDNA detection. Applications of CAPP-Seq for the personalization of cancer detection and therapy are discussed.