Abstract

Liquid Biopsy Follow-Up of Cancer Patients

Valérie Taly, CNRS Research Director, Group Leader and Professor, Université Paris Cité

Technological developments; such as ddPCR or optimized NGS, have greatly facilitated the tracking of circulating cell-free nucleic acids in body effluents. Several strategies can be designed to detect and characterize circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) using ddPCR. Examples of such strategies will be presented that are based either cancer-specific methylation markers or DNA integrity evaluation. We will then illustrate the pertinence of these approaches for the detection and monitoring of ctDNA in plasma (so-called liquid biopsy) of patients with localized or advanced cancers. Results of several prospective clinical studies will be presented.