Faculty Collaboration Database

Emerging Roles of Circulating Tumor DNA for Increased Precision and Personalization in Radiation Oncology. Semin Radiat Oncol 2023 Jul;33(3):262-278

Date

06/19/2023

Pubmed ID

37331781

DOI

10.1016/j.semradonc.2023.03.004

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85161992365 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   7 Citations

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) technologies present a compelling opportunity to combine this emerging liquid biopsy approach with the field of radiogenomics, the study of how tumor genomics correlate with radiotherapy response and radiotoxicity. Canonically, ctDNA levels reflect metastatic tumor burden, although newer ultrasensitive technologies can be used after curative-intent radiotherapy of localized disease to assess ctDNA for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection or for post-treatment surveillance. Furthermore, several studies have demonstrated the potential utility of ctDNA analysis across various cancer types managed with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, including sarcoma and cancers of the head and neck, lung, colon, rectum, bladder, and prostate . Additionally, because peripheral blood mononuclear cells are routinely collected alongside ctDNA to filter out mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis, these cells are also available for single nucleotide polymorphism analysis and could potentially be used to detect patients at high risk for radiotoxicity. Lastly, future ctDNA assays will be utilized to better assess locoregional MRD in order to more precisely guide adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery in cases of localized disease, and guide ablative radiotherapy in cases of oligometastatic disease.

Author List

Earland N, Chen K, Semenkovich NP, Chauhan PS, Zevallos JP, Chaudhuri AA

Author

Nicholas Semenkovich MD Assistant Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Biomarkers, Tumor
Circulating Tumor DNA
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
Liquid Biopsy
Male
Neoplasm, Residual
Neoplasms
Radiation Oncology