Table 2 Potential application of ctDNA in clinical oncology
Cancer screening | Localized cancer | Metastatic cancer | Refractory cancer |
|---|---|---|---|
Early diagnosis and early intervention | Identifying specific genomic alterations to guide therapeutic selection, monitoring tumor burden and therapeutic responses, detecting minimal residual disease, assessing risks of dissemination and recurrence | Early identification of relapse and treatment resistance, guidance of treatment selection, monitoring therapeutic responses | Understanding mechanism of resistance, determining new treatment |