Liquid Biopsy Promising for Surveillance of Tumor Changes

A large-scale genomic analysis has found that patterns of genetic changes detected in circulating tumor DNA mirror those identified in tumor tissue biopsies. The study looked at blood samples from more than 15,000 patients and 50 different tumor types and paired them with nearly 400 tissue biopsies that had undergone genetic testing.

Results of the study (abstract 11501) were presented at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, held June 3–7 in Chicago. Here, Philip C. Mack, PhD, of the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, who presented the data at the meeting, discusses results of the analysis.