The role of circulating tumor DNA in patients with colon cancer

The term “liquid biopsy” describes the study of various tumor derivatives (circulating tumor DNA, circulating tumor cells, tumor RNA, tumor proteins) in the blood plasma. Results of liquid biopsy provide real-time information on the molecular pathologies and morphological
features throughout the whole tumor mass and allow to estimate evolutionary changes of tumor mass in the dynamics, heterogeneity of mass formation and effectiveness of the therapy. Despite the impressive perspective of this method in the diagnosis, monitoring of disease, there is a number of problems for the implementation of liquid biopsy for various cancer pathologies. In this literature review, we focus on the role of circulating DNA as a source of information about the tumor in patients with colon cancer.

circulating tumor DNA, colon cancer, biomarkers