Page 68 - GTM-1-1

Global Translational Medicine

REVIEW ARTICLE
Role of circulating tumor DNA in the

management of patients with non-small cell
lung cancer

Yi-Chen Jin, Man-Qi Wu, Ke-Zhong Chen*, and Jun Wang

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Thoracic Oncology Institute, Peking University People’s Hospital,
Beijing, China

Abstract

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is DNA fragment shed from tumor cells and can be
isolated from peripheral blood. ctDNA carries genomic information of cancer and is
the most widely utilized indicator in liquid biopsy. The application of ctDNA is gaining
traction due to its reproducible, non-invasive, and easy-to-obtain characteristics.
With the development of detection approaches, ctDNA plays an important role in
the management of patients with cancers. In this review, we summarize the basic
ctDNA detection measurements and review its application in early screening,
prognosis evaluation after the surgery, and efficacy prediction of different therapies
in non-small cell lung cancer.

Keywords: Circulating tumor DNA; Non-small cell lung cancer; Early detection; Prognosis
evaluation; Treatment selection

*Corresponding authors:
Ke-Zhong Chen
(mdkzchen@163.com) 1. Introduction
Citation: Jin Y-C, Wu M-Q,
Chen K-Z, et al., 2022, Role 1.1. The overview of lung cancer
of circulating tumor DNA in the
management of patients with non- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths and has the second highest incidence
[1]
small cell lung cancer. Gene Protein rate of cancer worldwide , among which non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for
Dis, 1(1): 96. 85% of the total cases . According to the eighth edition of the TNM classification, 5-year
[2]
https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.v1i1.96
survival for patients with Stage IA1 NSCLC is 92%, while for patients with Stage IV is <10% .
[3]
Received: May 16, 2022 To improve the prognosis, discerning and meddling with lung cancer during early stage
Accepted: June 20, 2022
Published: June 28, 2022 could be a feasible strategy. Surgical resection is recommended to patients with NSCLC from
Stage I to Stage IIIA, while 10 – 50% of patients after the operation experience metastatic
Copyright: © 2022 Author(s). relapse within 5 years . TNM staging system is the most widely utilized prognostic tool for
[4]
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the recurrence prediction, but patients within the same staging group exhibit heterogeneity in
Creative Commons Attribution clinical consequences and therapy responses. The variation of survival rate within the same
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, TNM stage calls for additional prognostic indicators.
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1.2. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)
Publisher’s Note: AccScience ctDNA is a subset of cell-free DNA (cfDNA), a kind of fragmented DNA pieces in the
Publishing remains neutral with blood stream shed by tumor cells undergoing apoptosis or necrosis, and sometimes
regard to jurisdictional claims in [5]
published maps and institutional released by active secretion . ctDNA carries the whole genome information of primary
affiliations. tumor tissue and holds the potential as a promising surrogate for tissue samples for

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2022) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.v1i1.96