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Updated: Dec 12, 2025

The Establishment of a Lung Colonization Assay for Circulating Tumor Cell Visualization in Lung Tissues
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Circulating Tumor Cells in Metastatic Breast Cancer: From Genome Instability to Metastasis

Ekaterina Ivanova1,2, Ambber Ward3, Adrian P Wiegmans1

  • 1Cancer and Ageing Research Program, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Translational Research Institute, Woolongabba, QLD, Australia.

Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
|August 9, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Tracking cancer

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Genetics
  • Biomarkers

Background:

  • Cancer's ability to develop resistance through genome instability leads to poor outcomes, especially in triple-negative breast cancer.
  • Metastatic relapse in triple-negative breast cancer is linked to high cellular heterogeneity.
  • Real-time monitoring of therapeutic resistance is crucial for precision medicine but remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the potential of liquid biopsy, utilizing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), as a diagnostic tool.
  • To explore liquid biopsy's role in personalized therapy for advanced breast cancer patients.
  • To detail genome instability events in metastatic breast cancer and their detectability via liquid biopsy.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current literature on liquid biopsy applications in metastatic breast cancer.
  • Analysis of genome instability events common in metastatic breast cancer.
  • Discussion of the capabilities and limitations of CTCs and ctDNA for tracking resistance.

Main Results:

  • Liquid biopsy (CTCs and ctDNA) shows promise as a complementary or alternative diagnostic method.
  • Genome instability events in metastatic breast cancer can be monitored using liquid biopsy.
  • Current liquid biopsy techniques have limitations that need to be addressed for widespread clinical use.

Conclusions:

  • Liquid biopsy offers a potential pathway for real-time monitoring of therapeutic resistance in advanced breast cancer.
  • Personalized treatment strategies can be enhanced by integrating liquid biopsy data.
  • Further development is needed to overcome limitations and fully realize the potential of liquid biopsy in clinical practice.
Keywords:
cell-free DNAcirculating tumor cellsgenome instabilityliquid biopsymetastasis

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