Disease monitoring by analysis of circulating cell-free DNA in metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is characterized by a high level of genetic heterogeneity. Changes in the genetic profile induced by chemotherapy affect treatment results. Acquired resistance of tumors is defined as a result of clonal evolution and clonal selection under systemic chemotherapy. Repeated tumor tissue biopsies are difficult to obtain and cannot be easily used for dynamic monitoring of therapy response or failure due to marked tumor heterogeneity. Promising data for circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as a tool for studying tumor evolution were recently published. Aims and methods: In this study…