title: Role of Circulating Cell-Free DNA in Cancers.
abstract: Liquid biopsy is a term used to describe non-invasive tests, which provide information about disease conditions through analysis of circulating cell-free DNA and circulating tumor cells from peripheral blood samples. In patients with cancer, the concentration of cell-free DNA increases, and structural, sequence, and epigenetic changes to DNA can be observed through the disease process and during therapy. Furthermore, cell-free DNA released by the tumor contains the same variants as those in the tumor cells. Therefore, cell-free DNA allows non-invasive assessment of cancer in real time. This review summarizes the origin of cell-free DNA, recent advancements in the detection of cell-free DNA, a possible role in metastasis, and its importance as a non-invasive diagnostic assay for cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, 600036, India.
authors.forename: Raghu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aarthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, 600036, India.
authors.forename: Samson
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Sridevi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Velusami
authors.affiliation: Department of Onco-pathology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sundarsingh
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, 600036, India. drtrajkumar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Thangarajan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rajkumar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm