Department of Internal Medicine IV, Oncology/Hematology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
Curr Oncol. 2022 Feb 25;29(3):1430-1441. doi: 10.3390/curroncol29030120.
Tumor cells shed DNA into the plasma. "Liquid biopsy" analysis of mutations or other genomic alterations in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) may provide us with a tool to detect minimal residual cancer, comprehensively profile the genomic tumor landscape in search of druggable targets, and monitor cancers non-invasively over time for treatment failure or emerging treatment-resistant tumor subclones. While liquid biopsies have not yet entered routine clinical management in patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers, this group of diseases may benefit from such advanced diagnostic tools due to their pronounced genetic spatiotemporal heterogeneity and limitations in imaging sensitivity. Moreover, as the armamentarium of targeted treatment approaches and immunotherapies expands, cfDNA analyses may reveal their utility not only as a biomarker of response but also for precision monitoring. In this review, we discuss the different applications of cfDNA analyses in patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer and the technical challenges that such liquid biopsies have yet to overcome.
肿瘤细胞将 DNA 释放入血液中。循环无细胞游离 DNA（cfDNA）中突变或其他基因组改变的“液体活检”分析，可能为我们提供一种检测微小残留癌的工具，全面描绘基因组肿瘤图谱，寻找可用药的靶点，并随着时间的推移非侵入性监测癌症，以发现治疗失败或出现治疗耐药的肿瘤亚克隆。虽然液体活检尚未在胃和胃食管交界处癌症患者的常规临床管理中应用，但由于这些疾病具有明显的遗传时空异质性和影像学敏感性的局限性，它们可能受益于这种先进的诊断工具。此外，随着靶向治疗方法和免疫疗法的不断增加，cfDNA 分析不仅可能揭示其作为反应生物标志物的效用，还可能用于精确监测。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 cfDNA 分析在胃和胃食管交界处癌症患者中的不同应用，以及这种液体活检尚未克服的技术挑战。
