The biological and technical challenges facing utilizing circulating tumor DNA in non-metastatic breast cancer patients

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and has emerged as a major global challenge. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), a liquid biopsy method, overcomes the accessibility limitations of tissue-based testing and is widely used for monitoring minimal residual disease and molecular relapse, predicting prognosis, evaluating the response of neoadjuvant therapy, and optimizing treatment decisions in non-metastatic breast cancer. However, the application of ctDNA still faces many challenges. Here, we survey the clinical applications of ctDNA in non-metastatic breast cancer and discuss the significant biological and technical challenges of utilizing ctDNA. Importantly, we investigate potential avenues for addressing the challenges. In addition, emerging technologies, including fragmentomics detection, methylation sequencing, and long-read sequencing, have clinical potential and could be a future direction. Proper utilization of machine learning facilitates the identification of meaningful patterns from complex fragment and methylation profiles of ctDNA. There is still a lack of clinical trials focused on the subsets of ctDNA (e.g., circulating mitochondrial DNA), ctDNA-inferred drug-resistant clonal evolution, tumor heterogeneity, and ctDNA-guided clinical decision-making in non-metastatic breast cancer. Due to regional differences in the number of registered clinical trials, it is essential to enhance communication and foster global collaboration to advance the field.