Cell-free DNA in Cancer Diagnostics: Current Advances

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 4027

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Clinical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, 92-215 Lodz, Poland
Interests: molecular biology; human physiology; metabolism; physiology markers; oncology; cancer biology
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Guest Editor
Department of Clinical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, 92-215 Lodz, Poland
Interests: molecular biology; cancer; cancer biology; cancer biomarkers; diagnostics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The presence of cell-free nucleic acids in the plasma of healthy individuals was first reported in 1948. Since then, elevated levels of cfDNA have been found in various physiological and pathological conditions. An important research milestone in the molecular application of cell-free DNA as a marker, was the development of dedicated extraction kits and more sensitive detection instruments based on polymerase chain reaction such as quantitative PCR (qPCR), droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), or next-generation sequencing (NGS). Thanks to these developments, the diagnostic and therapeutic landscape of personalized medicine in cancer diagnostics has expanded rapidly. The instruments were able to detect even a small percentage of cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) with specific mutations. The advancement holds great promise to improve cancer treatment management, especially in the advanced stages of the disease and metastasis. Minimally invasive liquid biopsy belongs to the extensively studied issues of future cancer diagnostics.

In this Special Issue, we would like to provide a general idea of the advances of potential prognostic and diagnostic significance of cell-free DNA. On behalf of Biology, we cordially invite you to contribute an article to this project.

Dr. Robert Stawski
Dr. Ewelina Perdas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cell-free DNA
  • ct DNA
  • liquid biopsy
  • diagnostics
  • oncology
  • cancer

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

14 pages, 432 KiB  
Review
Current Trends in Cell-Free DNA Applications. Scoping Review of Clinical Trials
by Robert Stawski, Emilia Stec-Martyna, Adam Chmielecki, Dariusz Nowak and Ewelina Perdas
Biology 2021, 10(9), 906; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10090906 - 13 Sep 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2948
Abstract
We aimed to summarize the current knowledge about the trends in cfDNA application based on the analysis of clinical trials registered until April 2021. International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and Clinicaltrials.gov were searched with the keywords: “cf-DNA”; “Circulating DNA”; “Deoxyribonucleic Acid”; and [...] Read more.
We aimed to summarize the current knowledge about the trends in cfDNA application based on the analysis of clinical trials registered until April 2021. International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and Clinicaltrials.gov were searched with the keywords: “cf-DNA”; “Circulating DNA”; “Deoxyribonucleic Acid”; and “Cell-Free Deoxyribonucleic Acid”. Of 605 clinical trials, we excluded 237 trials, and 368 remaining ones were subject to further analysis. The subject, number of participants, and study design were analyzed. Our scoping review revealed three main trends: oncology (n = 255), non-invasive prenatal diagnostic (n = 48), and organ transplantation (n = 41), and many (n = 22) less common such as sepsis, sport, or autoimmune diseases in 368 clinical trials. Clinical trials are translating theory into clinical care. However, the diagnostic value of cfDNA remains controversial, and diagnostic accuracy still needs to be evaluated. Thus, further studies are necessary until cfDNA turns into a standard in clinical practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cell-free DNA in Cancer Diagnostics: Current Advances)
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